The company named Cypress Creek Renewables received some negative comments from the community back in January of this year because of the language of the lease they had offered to many Sullivan County landowners. Critics said the lease was good for the company, but not so good for the landowners.

At a meeting that Cypress Creek hosted at the Sullivan in Rock Hill on July 13, a representative of the company said their entry to the county could have been smoother, but she and others who spoke were willing to answer all questions from the public about their operation in New York and other states.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the presentation was a map with the caption, “An overview showing the highest priority solar farms in development in Sullivan County." The Cypress Creek team leader, Noah Hyte, said while there are no permits on any of the projects yet, these are the projects most likely to come on line first.

According to the map, there are four installations planned for the Town of Bethel, two each in the towns of Liberty, Fallsburg and Mamakating, and one each for the towns of Callicoon and Neversink.

In general, these solar installations will be about two megawatts worth of panels located on about 20 acres of land and able to serve the electricity needs of about 500 or 600 homes.

Company spokeswoman Anne Waling said the company was founded in 2014 and has raised over $1 billion in investments and will very soon reach its goal of $1.25 billion. She said the company has developed or is developing or financing over 200 utility-scale projects. Waling said the projects in Sullivan County may be constructed next year. She said the electricity would be sold to residents near the projects “at or below market rates.”

She said the company expects to invest about $3.3 million in each project and that includes about $1.6 million in the local economy. Waling said a single solar operation could pay more than $1 million in taxes over the 35-year life of an installation.

Hyte said the company hopes to have the first installation up and running by May or June of 2017; some will take longer as towns work their way through solar moratoria, and create new zoning to cover utility-scale solar farms.

Hyte said that Cypress Creek is moving into New York because Governor Andrew Cuomo and other state officials have set up various renewable energy programs, and one that makes community solar programs like the ones they’re pursuing especially attractive.