Roadmap Shows How Expanding New York's Solar Energy Will Help Meet Green Goals To meet New York's green energy targets, solar developers can look at using lower-quality agricultural land for solar energy, encourage dual-use (combined agriculture and solar) alternatives, discourage concentrated solar production, and involve communities early, according to a new Cornell University study.
Growth in solar power sparks a land rush
Developers scramble across Hudson Valley, Upstate to secure acreage for vast solar farms
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This 20 mw solar farm in rural Washington County is one of the largest so far in upstate NY.Rick Karlin/Times Union
SCHODACK Bill Lanford’s mailbox for the past year has been filling up with offers and solicitations to lease part of his family farm. The offers don’t come from housing developers though.
Instead they come from alternative energy companies that are scrambling to secure suitable properties for solar farms.
“I’ve been approached a dozen times at least,” says Lanford, a University at Albany physics professor who lives on the farm that his dad raised cattle on.
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ITHACA, N.Y. - Solar-power developers need to explore using lower-quality agricultural land for solar energy, incentivize dual-use (combined agriculture and solar) options, avoid concentrated solar development and engage communities early to achieve New York s green energy goals, according to forthcoming Cornell University research. As farmland is generally flat and cleared, agricultural land will be the prime target for future solar energy development, said Max Zhang, professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Good farmland, however, is not ideal.
Zhang is senior author of Strategic Land Use Analysis for Solar Energy Development in New York State, which will publish in August 2021 in
Tending to sheep on a solar farm is a good dual-use land option for creating green energy. Engage public, explore methods to secure NYS green energy
May 4, 2021
Solar-power developers need to explore using lower-quality agricultural land for solar energy, boost incentives for dual-use (combined agriculture and solar) options, avoid concentrated solar development and engage communities early to achieve New York’s green energy goals, according to forthcoming Cornell research.
“As farmland is generally flat and cleared, agricultural land will be the prime target for future solar energy development,” said Max Zhang, professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, in the College of Engineering, and senior author of “Strategic Land Use Analysis for Solar Energy Development in New York State,” which will publish in August 2021 in Renewable Energy. “Good farmland, however, is not ideal.”
Applying Science to New York Weather
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The problem is not knowing how much snow is falling, and where. The solution will hopefully come from Cornell professor Max Zhang and his research team. They re developing a hyperlocal weather forecasting system. They work on a very lean budget, and have a limited number of staff members, and also have a very small number of plow trucks. The work is important, so winter storm preparation is sometimes life or death, said Zhang, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
What You Need To Know
A team of researchers from across the state are working on a hyperlocal forecasting system, focusing on roads