July 29, 2026
Albany
ALBANY —The New York State Department of Public Service announced the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission (ORES) will hold an in-person Public Comment Hearing on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. to hear and receive unsworn comments on the application filed by Valcour Wethersfield NewCo, LLC c/o AES Clean Energy Development, LLC, pursuant to Public Service Law Article VIII to construct and operate a 136-megawatt (MW) wind energy facility known as the Wethersfield Wind Repowering Project located in the Towns of Wethersfield and Eagle, Wyoming County and the draft permit conditions published by ORES staff.
Valcour Wethersfield NewCo, LLC c/o AES Clean Energy Development, LLC filed the application with ORES on August 14, 2025. A notice of complete application was issued on April 20, 2026 (see https://dps.ny.gov/ores-permit-applications, click on Project Permit Application Number 23-03034).
ORES staff published draft permit conditions on June 1, 2026. The draft permit conditions may be accessed at https://dps.ny.gov/ores-permit-applications, click on Project Permit Application Number 23-03034.
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that an in-person public comment hearing pursuant to 16 NYCRR Part 1100 to hear and receive unsworn comments from the public on the application and draft permit will be held as follows:
DATE: Wednesday, August 5, 2026 LOCATION: |
All persons, organizations, corporations, or government agencies who may be affected by the facility are invited to attend the hearing and comment on the application and the draft permit conditions. To ensure that all interested persons have an opportunity to speak, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) may limit the time available for oral comments to three (3) minutes per person. Lengthier comments should be submitted in writing. Equal weight will be given to both oral and written comments. The public comment hearing will be transcribed for inclusion in the administrative record.
The hearing location is reasonably accessible to persons with a mobility impairment. Persons with disabilities requiring special accommodations should call the Department of Public Service’s Human Resource Management Office at (518) 473-9463 as soon as possible. TDD users may request a sign language interpreter by placing a call through the New York Relay Service at 711. Individuals with difficulty understanding or reading English are encouraged to call the Department at (800) 342-3377 for free language assistance services.
In the event that the in-person public comment hearing needs to be canceled, rescheduled, postponed, or conducted virtually, notification of any change will be available at the ORES website at https://dps.ny.gov/ores.
PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE Written comments concerning the application and the draft permit conditions must be filed with ORES by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, August 7, 2026. Persons filing written comments are strongly encouraged to post their comments on the Department of Public Service (DPS) Document and Matter Management (DMM) system. To post a comment, go to https://dps.ny.gov/ores, click on “ORES Permit Applications,” click on Project Permit Application Number 23-03034, and click on “Post Comments” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Written comments may also be emailed to ORES at [email protected] or mailed to the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223-1350. Please reference Project Permit Application Number 23-03034. Written comments will be considered equally with oral statements delivered at the public comment hearing, provided they are postmarked by Friday, August 7, 2026, or e-mailed or posted on DMM by 4:30 p.m. on that date.
Please take notice that written public comments will be publicly posted on DMM. ORES reserves the right not to post duplicate or repeat comments. In addition, ORES reserves the right to remove, without notice, comments containing any defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory, confidential, or unlawful material or information of any kind.
All petitions requesting party status and briefs in support by persons seeking to participate in adjudicatory proceedings on the application must be E-Filed on DMM no later than 4:00 p.m. on Monday, August 10, 2026. Instructions for registering in DMM and E-Filing documents may be found at: https://dps.ny.gov/dmm-help-electronic-filing-registration-instructions.
Any questions about filing requirements or other hearing procedures may be addressed to Chief ALJ James T. McClymonds by telephone at (518) 473-4583. ORES's regulations may be found at https://dps.ny.gov/ores-regulatory-documents.
Document Availability: Copies of all application materials and draft permit conditions are available for inspection by appointment during normal business hours at the ORES’s Albany office located at: Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission, New York State Department of Public Service, Empire State Plaza, Agency Building 3, Albany, NY 12223-1350. To make an appointment, contact ORES by telephone at (518) 473-4590, or email at [email protected]. Electronic copies are available at https://dps.ny.gov/ores-permit-applications, click on Project Permit Application Number 23-03034.
Copies of all application materials are also available at:
Eagle Free Library
Attn: Library Director
3413 School Street
Bliss, New York 14204
26072/23-03034