Residents looking to block an expansion of a huge solar array on East Windsor farmland got a boost Wednesday when the town’s legislative delegation put out a bipartisan statement slamming the proposal as damaging and unwelcome. Anwar, a Democrat, along with Democratic Rep. Jaime Foster and Republican Rep. Carol Hall issued a call for the Connecticut Siting Council to reject a request from Desri Holdings L.P. to approve more than 150 additional acres in East Windsor for solar arrays. Residents and town leaders argue that East Windsor and a few other sparsely populated towns with large quantities of farmland are being forced to carry most of the weight of renewable energy for the state and beyond. Desri, a New York-based renewable energy company, contends the expansion will provide “cost effective, stably priced, renewable energy to Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island customers,” saying it would deliver power to high-demand centers including Hartford, Providence and western Massachusetts. The company has approval for a 120-megawatt project, and is asking the Siting Council to approve an additional 30 megawatts.
Petition signatures against massive solar array in rural CT town top 1,100