After years of debate, a large-scale solar project in Rensselaer County has been cancelled. WAMC's Samantha Simmons reports.
A solar farm slated for 511 McChesney Ave. Ext. in Brunswick will not move forward.
After nearly three years of back and forth with the town, Changing Visions of Energy North America has apparently pulled the project that would have placed more than 16,000 panels on roughly 100 acres and generated 7 megawatts of energy.
The company had already invested $350,000 in the project when town leaders requested a study to ensure the panels would be hidden from public view. Greg Bejian, who owns the land the solar array was going to be built on, said the study would have cost tens of thousands of more dollars.
In documents sent to the town on Aug. 25, 2025, the solar developer asked the town to rethink its decision that stated the project would have adverse visual impacts on the area. The solar company said the town was missing key points of a visual impact assessment, saying “this viewshed analysis does not account for existing surface features and treats the land as if it were free of vegetation and/or structures."
The company added that while the project would have been visible from some areas, “significant landscaping” was offered to limit its visual impact.
The company put the project on hold in September. But now, Bejian says the company informed him in a Jan. 28 email that it would not be moving forward with the project.
Despite what Bejian says about his email from the solar developer, Longtime Town Supervisor Philip Herrington, a Republican, says the town hasn’t received official word the project’s termination.
CVE North America did not return WAMC’s request for comment.
Bejian, who stood to make $2 million by selling his land to the solar developer, told WAMC he’s not upset that it fell through.
“Because I was thinking, you know, there's going to be solar panels up on the property. They were just going to tear my house down and put collectors up. But when I found out afterwards that it was almost 16,000 panels they were going to put up, I thought, ‘oh, man, that that's a lot, you know, and if the neighbors could see it, a little bit that's really gonna be a bummer for them.’”
Bejian says this project put his life on hold in many ways, but he’s happy to keep his neighbors happy.
“I hadn't put any money in it in several years,” Bejian said. “In the last three years, I didn't put any money into it because of if these guys were going to, you know, buy the property and it was going to go through, they're just going to rip the house down. But five years prior to that, I just wasn't able to do anything around here, so I was kind of thinking it would be kind of nice to go start over somewhere fresh, but I'm still here, and you know, there's part of me that that really likes it.”
The property surrounding the panels would have been surrounded an 8-foot fence and trees, which would have taken more than five years to reach maturity.
Ellen Montiel lives across from the site. She says before last year, she knew nothing about the project that had been debated for years. When she found out about the panels that would have changed her scenic view, she became committed to informing her neighbors about the potential plans. Montiel says she’s not against solar, but she felt this project didn’t make sense for the community.
“A lot of people familiar with the area, and they'll immediately know the view that you're talking about, It's, you know, what are the iconic views of the rolling hills of Brunswick that was going to be covered in solar panels,” Montiel said. “Also, you had this project continued, then the threat of having more and more of them is increased, because then at that point, if one of them is approved, the next one that comes along will then say, ‘well, you approve this one. There's no reason not to approve the next one,’ and the next one and the next one. And before you know it, everything you know, is being covered in, in solar panels.”
Montiel says now she plans to continue informing the community on local happenings through a newsletter – the Brunswick NY Agenda.
“[It] doesn't even have to be a negative interest, you know, it could be something that you're looking forward to coming to town, so that you can then go to the town website and follow it, and go to meetings if you wish,” Montiel said. “And be more involved. People being involved is it's really good for everybody.”
