NYSERDA as we speak introduced over $7 million has been awarded to tasks that co-locate photo voltaic and agricultural operations in New York State. By way of NYSERDA’s Environmental Analysis Program, over $2 million was awarded to 4 tasks to show the potential impacts and advantages of utilizing the identical land for renewable vitality era from photo voltaic panels and lively farming. Moreover, a $5 million grant was awarded to Cornell College’s School of Agriculture and Life Sciences to assemble agrivoltaics tasks at its agricultural experiment stations. Collectively, the demonstration of and analysis findings gained from these tasks will assist a broader understanding of the prices, advantages, and market potential for agrivoltaics as a part of New York State’s clear vitality transition and financial progress.
An agrivoltaics set up. Credit score: SolarEdge
“We’re proud to accomplice with farmers, builders, and analysis companions to advance tasks that assist photo voltaic as a useful resource to supply vitality in New York State whereas sustaining agriculture operations for financial progress. By inspecting totally different technique of integrating agriculture operations and clear vitality siting, we’ll construct our understanding of the prices, advantages and market potential of finding two important industries in the identical house,” stated NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen M. Harris.
Agriculture is a critically vital sector of New York’s financial system, with over 33,000 farms throughout roughly 20% of the state’s land space, or near 7 million acres. Farmers, many who’re struggling, have expressed curiosity within the potential for photo voltaic vitality to offer a further income stream to assist stabilize farm revenue and maintain farm operations. The New York State Farmland Protection Working Group, overseen by New York State Division of Agriculture and Markets (AGM), advisable that the state research co-utilizing land for renewable vitality era and agricultural manufacturing with the potential to play an vital position in assembly New York State’s future vitality and agricultural improvement wants. These awards show NYSERDA’s dedication to creating info and instruments that assist decision-making in communities and fascinating property house owners who’re contemplating co-utilization alternatives for agriculture and renewable vitality era to assist them hold their land and keep in enterprise.
The awards assist integrating each new or retrofitted photo voltaic and farm operations comparable to these with grazing, forage or specialty crop manufacturing. Researchers, photo voltaic builders, farmers, non-profit organizations and native governments had been eligible to submit proposals that embody a photo voltaic web site design, marketable agricultural commodity, estimates of anticipated agricultural manufacturing and photo voltaic era.
The awarded tasks embody:
- New York Energy Authority was awarded $750,000 to develop a 1.2- to 1.5-MW photo voltaic array that may energy roughly 230 New York houses yearly on near 14 acres of State College of New York School of Agriculture and Know-how at Cobleskill campus in Schoharie County, utilizing elevated panels for cattle grazing in rotation with rising corn, spaced to accommodate conventional harvesting gear.
- Okay&MH Martens Farms was awarded $185,000 to include agrivoltaics into the event of a 300-kW photo voltaic array for a microgrid to assist an on-site grain processing operation. The venture additionally seeks to make use of the photo voltaic array to maximise shade advantages for grazing dairy cattle, improve productiveness of the soil and lengthen the rising season for cool-season grasses whereas utilizing building processes that defend soil and farmland pasture in Yates County.
- Lightstar Renewables was awarded over $515,000 for a 3.2-MW photo voltaic array to supply electrical energy to be supplied to the grid, which is equal to that utilized by roughly 725 New York houses per yr. The development options wider spacing of photo voltaic panels to allow the continuation of hay manufacturing and harvest on one to 2 acres of latest vegetable operations in Orange County.
- United Agrivoltaics was awarded $750,000 to show including pigs, poultry and specialty crops at present photo voltaic websites in Cortland, Schuyler, Tompkins and Niagara counties that already produce 15.85 MW of group photo voltaic and canopy a complete of greater than 100 acres.
These tasks allow NYSERDA and researchers to know the prices, advantages, and classes discovered associated to agrivoltaics and share information that can be utilized to develop finest practices. NYSERDA convenes the New York State Agricultural Technical Working Group (A-TWG), an impartial advisory physique comprised of farmers and farming stakeholders, photo voltaic builders, state businesses and non-governmental organizations, to advise and steer efforts in advancing photo voltaic vitality improvement in a accountable method that helps New York State’s agricultural operations, lands, farmers and communities. The A-TWG commissioned the report Growing Agrivoltaics in New York State printed in 2023 that recognized alternatives and constraints related to the growing uptake of agrivoltaics tasks in New York State. The A-TWG additionally supplies enter on the Smart Solar Siting Scorecard which is used to guage purposes for utility scale photo voltaic tasks for his or her avoidance and mitigation of agricultural and forest lands. NYSERDA in ongoing session with the AGM and the A-TWG will research the outcomes of the awarded agrivoltaic tasks to know the alternatives and market potential for agrivoltaics in New York State.
NYSERDA additionally introduced that it has awarded a $5 million grant to Cornell College’s School of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) to assemble agrivoltaic tasks at its Agricultural Experiment Station websites within the Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes. These websites will conduct long run analysis on the dual-use of photo voltaic operations and agriculture practices throughout a spread of rising circumstances and crops related to state agricultural producers.
CALS Hudson Valley Analysis Lab, within the hamlet of Highland, will assemble an roughly 300-kW photo voltaic array on about two acres, above high-density apple orchards. Specialised sensors and controls will allow photo voltaic panel manipulation for solar and shading preferences and for crop safety from frost and hail climate occasions. Electrical energy produced will probably be used to energy analysis lab operations and surplus energy will probably be provided to the native electrical grid.
Moreover, CALS will assemble an roughly 900-kW photo voltaic array on the Cornell College campus within the city of Ithaca, and can make the most of a monitoring system, on about seven acres. Plantings throughout the photo voltaic array will embody conventional annual vegetable, subject and perennial forage crops. Designed to imitate circumstances in a wide range of photo voltaic array configurations, the system will allow analysis throughout a spread of disciplines together with plant genetics, soil well being, and water administration methods related to agrivoltaics. Electrical energy produced from the photo voltaic array will present energy to Cornell’s campus electrical grid. CALS can even consider setting up agrivoltaics at its Cornell Agri-Tech analysis farm within the metropolis of Geneva.
New York Energy Authority President and CEO Justin E. Driscoll stated, “Agrivoltaics tasks steadiness the necessity for added renewable vitality capability and the preservation of arable farmland. Farmers are the spine of New York’s rural communities, and funding assist for tasks like these is vital as we goal to strengthen our understanding of this progressive know-how that may improve agricultural productiveness whereas contributing to the vitality range of our state’s grid.”
Information merchandise from NYSERDA
Trending Merchandise
