Another year of solar struggles, new hearings

COPAKE – The past year marked another herky-jerky dance on the community solar front for this otherwise quiet hamlet.

As 2025 rolled along, the battle between Hecate Energy LLC and residents opposed to its proposed 42-megawatt Shepherd’s Run solar farm entered its eighth year.

In February, New York State officials dismissed the company’s application, and the process of review continued through the rest of the year. Officials in Albany eventually issued two additional notices of incompleteness.

Meanwhile, state legislators also weighed in on the project. State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-41, and State Assemblywoman Didi Barrett, D-106, both expressed concerns about the project in letters to state officials and to Gov. Kathy Hochul. Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson wrote about concerns the city’s Common Council cited in October 2024 about the safety of Hudson’s water supply.

The project has been controversial since it initially was discussed in 2017 — planned as a 60-megawatt solar farm to be located on farmland near the intersection of Routes 23 and 7. In January 2024, the project had to be downsized after the company lost control over a portion of designated land. As it now stands, Shepherd’s Run will span 700 acres with thousands of solar panels covering 225 acres.

In other developments, last summer Hecate found itself in Delaware Chancery Court as a creditor sought a restraining order against the Chicago-based developer, owner and operator of renewable power projects. A Hecate lender claimed: “Hecate Holdings is woefully insolvent, strapped for cash, and drastically over leveraged,” a motion stated. Then, soon thereafter, a second creditor filed a similar motion in the same court claiming Hecate was in default in its loan agreements.

By the middle of the next month, in September, state officials accepted the company’s Shepherd’s Run application as “complete” and within a requisite 60-day period issued a draft permit for the project. That was in mid-November.

Next up will be public hearings. Two will be virtual airings available on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Four in-person hearings are scheduled for 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, and Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at Town Hall in Copake.

On Jan. 10, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Copake Memorial Park Building some residents have organized a community meeting in preparation of the public hearings. Organized by Sensible Solar for Rural New York and the Arcadian Alliance, the meeting will feature talks and videos “to hear experts on how Shepherd’s Run will negatively impact Copake.” Speakers include Town Supervisor Richard Wolf, William Murphy, a retired battalion chief from the Fire Department of New York and Lindsay Brecht of Copake Lake Realty.