COXSACKIE — The 21st Century Economy is carrying some mixed blessings for Margaret Jones. She’s among a handful of people who operate Airbnbs in this Greene County community south of Albany.

State and local promotions have led to an uptick in visitors to the area, and her weekends are often booked solid.

But now she and others fear that two industrial-size solar projects proposed for the area could hurt tourism as well as detract from the value of nearby homes.

So she and others have started a group, Saving Greene, in opposition to the proposals. Developers are looking at a total of 2,500 acres for new solar farms, including one of 100 megawatts and another with 50 megawatts.

Forty five miles away, west of Schenectady on the other side of the Capital Region, Lynne Bruning is fighting a similar battle. She’s filed an Article 78 proceeding, or precursor to a lawsuit, against the Duanesburg planning board, solar developer Eden Renewables and landowner Richard Murray, contending the board erred in approving two 7.5 megawatt solar arrays on 66 acres next to the home, barns and acreage that she and her mother, Susan Biggs, own.

Duanesburg has since instituted a six-month moratorium on new projects.

Solar farms of all sizes are booming in parts of upstate New York. Sparked by a nationwide push for renewable or carbon-free electricity and hastened by a new state law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act that lays out goals and timelines for getting there, developers are flooding into upstate.

According to the New York State Independent System Operator, which oversee the state’s vast electric grid, there are more than 110 projects representing more than 10,000 megawatts of capacity.

They probably won’t all be built, but that number represents a boom in solar development that will change the landscape in parts of the state, especially those areas near major transmission lines.

The projects range in size from a few megawatts that can power a small neighborhood, to 350 MW farms that could light up tens of thousands of homes.

Solar, along with wind turbines, currently make up a small portion of the state’s energy needs, with most of the power still coming from existing natural gas and nuclear plants. But they are coming in quickly. Drive down Route 32 south of Bethlehem and you’ll see one near the industrial site in Feura Bush and farther down in Greenville.

Community farms have opened in Altamont and in Halfmoon, allowing rate-paying members of the public to become members and get lower utility bills in the process.

But for some, such as Jones and Bruning, the farms may be coming too fast, leading to legal battles and local activist campaigns.

Bruning earlier this month organized a “Sensible Solar Summit,” to discuss how to deal with the onslaught of solar farms. “Is there a better way to begin to site these projects?” asked Bruning.

Most of those who came to the summit, at a Duanesburg church meeting room, said they understood the need for clean energy. But for some of them, there are unanswered questions and a feeling that some of the projects are beyond local control.

“It all comes down to case law,” said Ken Kovalchik, the Guilderland town planner. He said that it can be difficult to stop a solar project in court if it conforms with a locality’s zoning and land use regulations.

Moreover, the state’s Article 10 law puts a state siting board in charge of approvals for facilities over 25 MW. The boards are required to get local input but some have contended it basically puts decisions on large projects in the hands of the state.

Others wonder precisely what happens when the panels become obsolete or begin falling apart at the end of their 15-25-year life spans. “If the solar goes in we have to have an end game,” said Marion Jaqueway of Schoharie, where a 30.5-acre, 5 MW farm is planned. Solar developers in most cases must post a bond to make sure there is some money to remove and dispose or update the panels.

Part of the backlash is playing out in the courts.

In Duanesburg, Biggs and Bruning in their filing claim the developers, Eden Renewables, left out her mother’s home and barns in an initial depiction of the site plan. And they claim the planning board didn’t follow proper procedures in allowing the site.

In Greene County, supporters of the proposed 600-acre Flint Mine Solar Farm went to court to oppose a 2018 town law that would curtail solar developments by keeping them out of agriculturally zoned land.

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The case was overturned last fall. But the project could still move forward since, at 100 MW, the state siting board, under Article 10, would come into play. The developers could argue before the siting board that the agricultural ban is “unreasonably burdensome,” said Laura Cottingham, one of the attorneys representing the Friends of Flint Mine Solar, which opposed the town's restrictive law. “It is in the hands of the developer and the Siting Board,” she said in an email.

Adding to the controversy in Greene County is another 50 MW farm proposed by Hecate Energy, which opponents fear could threaten the watershed for Sleepy Hollow Lake, a manmade reservoir that is the centerpiece and drinking water source for the eponymous development, which includes vacation homes and year-round residents.

Some of the opponents say they worry what it would do to nearby property values.

Gabriel Wapner, director of development for Hecate Energy, said studies in other places have shown no drop in property values. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority says the same thing, but not everyone is convinced.

That development, too, could be decided under the Article 10 proceedings.

“That is the problem with New York State using Article 10 to permit the utility solar developments — local zoning may go out the window,” said Nancy Harm, a member of Saving Greene.

In some cases, developers are planning berms or tree and brush barriers to shield solar arrays from view. That’s the plan in Montgomery County where a 90.5 MW, 700-acre solar farm is proposed by Avangrid Renewables.

Keith Hevenor, communication manager for Nexamp, the Boston-based firm that is finishing a 14 MW, 50-acre solar farm in Westerlo, conceded that altering the scenery can be contentious.

“It’s an emotional issue. Anything that changes your view.”

Even the strongest solar proponents realize that the advent of solar farms represents a change for people who may have spent years in rural communities where little has changed.

“These projects and proposals are new,” said David Alicea, New York’s lead organizing representative at the Sierra Club.

“They are significant investments in communities that haven’t seen anything like this. People have really legitimate questions about this.”

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU