EXCELSIOR ENERGY CENTER Case No. 19-F-0299 1001.24 Exhibit 24 Visual Impacts Contents Exhibit 24: Visual Impacts ............................................................................................................. 1 24(a) Visual Impact Assessment ............................................................................................ 1 (1) Character and Visual Quality of the Existing Landscape ........................................... 2 (2) Visibility of the Project ................................................................................................ 6 (3) Visibility of Aboveground Interconnections and Roadways ....................................... 9 (4) Appearance of the Facility Upon Completion ........................................................... 10 (5) Lighting .................................................................................................................... 12 (6) Photographic Overlays and LOS ............................................................................. 12 (7) Nature and Degree of Visual Change from Construction ......................................... 20 (8) Nature and Degree of Visual Change from Operation ............................................. 20 (9) Measures to Mitigate for Visual Impacts .................................................................. 24 (10) Description of Visual Resources to be Affected ....................................................... 26 24(b) Viewshed Analysis ...................................................................................................... 26 (1) Viewshed Maps ....................................................................................................... 26 (2) Methodology ............................................................................................................ 27 (3) Viewer Groups Overview ......................................................................................... 29 (4) Scenic Resources Inventory .................................................................................... 30 (5) Viewpoint Selection ................................................................................................. 33 (6) Photographic Simulations and LOS ......................................................................... 36 (7) Mitigation Strategies ................................................................................................ 37 (8) Visual Impact Rating of Project Photosimulations ................................................... 37 (9) Visible Effects Created by the Project...................................................................... 42 (10) Outreach to Visual Stakeholders ............................................................................. 44 References .............................................................................................................................. 46 EXHIBIT 24 Excelsior Energy Center, LLC Page i Excelsior Energy Center Tables Table 24-1. Percentage of LSZs within 5-Mile VSA ...................................................................... 5 Table 24-2. Percent Visibility of the 5-Mile VSA* .......................................................................... 9 Table 24-3. Inventory of Visual Resources ................................................................................. 31 Table 24-4. Summary Table Simulation and LOS Viewpoints .................................................... 35 Table 24-5. Visual Impact Rating Results Summary .................................................................. 39 Appendices Appendix 24-1. Visual Impact Assessment Appendix 24-2. Glint and Glare Analysis Analysis EXHIBIT 24 Excelsior Energy Center, LLC Page ii Excelsior Energy Center Exhibit 24: Visual Impacts 24(a) Visual Impact Assessment This Exhibit will track the requirements of Stipulation 24, July 6, 2020, and therefore, the requirements of 16 New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR) §1001.24. To determine the extent and assess the significance of the visibility of the Project, a Visual Impact Assessment (VIA) has been conducted (see Appendix 24-1). The VIA includes both quantitative and qualitative identification of visually sensitive resources, viewshed mapping, confirmatory visual assessment fieldwork, visual simulations (photographic overlays), and proposed visual impact mitigation. Exhibit 24 provides an abbreviated version of the VIA and addresses the issues presented herein. Please refer to the full VIA in Appendix 24-1 of the Article 10 Application for greater detail. The Excelsior Energy Center (the Project) will have a generating capacity of 280 megawatts (MW) in addition to a storage capacity of 20 MW/4-hour duration energy storage system. The Project will be located on land leased and/or purchased from owners of private property in the Town of Byron, Genesee County, New York. Proposed Project Components include commercial-scale solar arrays, access roads, inverters, fencing, buried electric collection lines, energy storage system, and electrical interconnection facilities. The Project also includes a proposed collection substation and interconnection facilities to be located on land within the Project Area adjacent to the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) 345-kilovolt (kV) Line #DH2 between Niagara and N. Rochester substations. The proposed interconnection facilities will include a 345-kV switchyard, which will be transferred to NYPA to own and operate. Figure C.200 in Attachment 1 of Appendix 24-1 shows the site plan. Solar Arrays The Project proposes to install a tracker-racking system. As the technology is rapidly evolving for solar panel technology, and market conditions at the time procurement decisions need to be made are unknown at this time, the Applicant is proposing in the Article 10 Application to evaluate both tracking and fixed racking systems, with the final decision to be made and detailed in the Compliance Filing. However, for the purposes of assessing visual impacts, the VIA analyses and discussion focuses on the tracker layout, which has the higher aboveground height of the two systems and evaluates EXHIBIT 24 Excelsior Energy Center, LLC Page 1 Excelsior Energy Center the worst-case scenario. The tracker system in all analyses is set at 13 feet above ground surface (height at maximum tilt). The tracking system to be utilized would be similar to the Gamechange Solar Genius TrackerTM, specification sheets of which have been included in Appendix 2-1 of Exhibit 2. Regardless of the type of array racking system ultimately selected for the Project, the Applicant intends to utilize a solar module similar to the Jinko Solar Eagle 72HM G2 380-400 Watt Mono Perc Diamond Cell. Specification sheets for this module as well as the tracker system has been included in Appendix 2-1 of the Application. Project Collection Substation The 34.5-kV collection lines within the Project Area will gather power from the solar arrays and transport it to a new collection substation that will step up the voltage to 345 kV. The collection substation will be located adjacent to solar panels off of Batavia Byron Road (CR 19A). (1) Character and Visual Quality of the Existing Landscape The Project is in the Town of Byron, New York and is located in the northeastern part of Genesee County. The Visual Study Area (VSA) is a 5-mile radius around the fence line of the solar arrays and includes Genesee and Orleans Counties. As a result of the larger Study Area under consideration, a number of additional towns are included over that of the Project location in Byron, New York. Distance Zones are assigned within the VSA as required by Article 10. Currently, Distance Zones of 0.5 miles, 2 miles, and 5 miles are proposed. The towns within the VSA include: Towns Within 0.5-Mile Distance Zone: Byron, Elba, and Stafford. Towns within 2-Mile Distance Zone: Batavia, Bergen, Byron, Elba, LeRoy, and Stafford. Towns within 5-Mile Distance Zone: Batavia, Bergen, Byron, Elba, LeRoy, and Stafford; City of Batavia; and Villages of Bergen, Elba, and LeRoy in Genesee County; and Towns of Barre, Clarendon, and Sweden in Orleans County. The Project is in the Erie-Ontario Lowlands and Finger Lakes Region Major Land Resource Area. The northern half of the VSA is within the Erie-Ontario Lowlands Physiographic Province, while the southern half lies within the Allegheny Plateau. These province demarcations are influenced EXHIBIT 24 Excelsior Energy Center, LLC Page 2 Excelsior Energy Center in part by terrain. Within the VSA, terrain elevations trend higher from north to south as one moves from the Erie-Ontario Lowlands to the Allegheny Plateau. Elevations within the entire VSA from the Project out to 5 miles range from 565 to 1,000 feet mean sea level (msl). However, elevations over the entire site where arrays are located only range from 605 to 755 feet msl. Within Distance Zone 1 elevation changes are moderate ranging from 590 feet to 796 feet msl. Byron is included in most of Distance Zone 1. In Distance Zone 2 between 0.5 and 2 miles, which still includes much of Byron, elevations range from 577 to 914 feet msl with elevations trending higher to the south generally in Elba, Batavia, and Stafford. Elevation ranges in Distance Zone 3 between 2 and 5 miles are from 565 to 1,000 feet msl where terrain is highest in the Towns of Batavia, Stafford, and LeRoy and the City of Batavia. The landscape in the VSA and in the central portion where the project is located is primarily a rural mix of