Cider Solar Farm - FAQ's
- The developing solar facility is a 500-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) solar energy generation facility in the Town of Elba and Oakfield, Genesee County, New York. It will consist of PV solar arrays, access roads, and electrical interconnection to the utility grid.
- Hecate Energy is proposing to build Cider Solar Farm. A developer of solar power plants, wind-power plants, and energy storage solutions, Hecate Energy has developed and contracted over 1,000 megawatts of solar projects across the US, including several projects in New York and the Northeast.
- It will be built in the towns of Elba and Oakfield. The proposed site includes areas totaling approximately 3000 acres. Hecate Energy anticipates that the final footprint of the solar facility will be smaller.
- The 500-MW solar farm is expected to annually generate approximately 920,000 MWh of energy -- enough to meet the average annual consumption of over 125,000 New York households.
- New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) requires utilities to get 70% of their electricity from renewable energy by 2030. The law also requires the state to procure 6,000 MW solar energy by 2025.
- Currently, less only one-tenth of one percent of New York’s power generating capacity is provided by utility-scale solar (31.5 MW of a total 39,000 MW).[1] As a consequence, more grid-connected solar is needed to meet New York’s clean energy mandate.
- Utility-scale solar projects, such as Cider Solar Farm, produce less expensive electricity than smaller, distributed installations. They save an estimated 40% in building costs compared to smaller projects – savings that reduce the price of the electricity they produce.[2]
- Cider Solar Farm, like other utility-scale projects, employs tracking technology that follows the sun’s path to optimize the amount of electricity it can produce and minimize the project's land requirements.
- Grid-connected projects can provide electricity consumers, local utilities and power system operators with inexpensive solar energy – during high-cost summer peak demand.
[1] 2019 Load and Capacity Report, New York Independent System Operator
(https://www.nyiso.com/documents/20142/2226333/2019-Gold-Book-Final-Public.pdf/a3e8d99f-7164-2b24-e81d-b2c245f67904?t=1556215322968)
[2] Utility-Scale Solar: The Path to High-Value, Cost-Competitive Projects, Smart Electric Power Alliance, April 2016. (https://store.sepapower.org/CPBase__item?id=a12o000000JTZ1rAAH)
- It will offer the community new, long-term dedicated tax revenue for schools and local government. It will generate municipal revenues during the operation. It will also create a new, dedicated revenue stream for the local fire department and ambulance service, supporting their missions while placing few demands on their services.
- In addition, economic activity during construction and operations will create jobs and benefit local building trades, restaurants, lodging, gas stations, and stores.
- Cider Solar Farm is intended to help sustain the farm on which it will be located.
- As Hecate Energy develops solar facilities, it works to preserve soil resources with an eye toward returning the land to agricultural use in the future.
- Solar facilities are among the least disruptive of any electricity-producing technologies. This project’s impact on the soil will be limited to the spots where steel beams are driven into the ground to support the solar panel arrays and small concrete pads used to hold inverter stations and transformers. As a result, the land used by the solar facility can be returned to full agricultural production after the planned life of the project.
- By providing a productive, low-impact use for the land, the solar facility also prevents the land from being sold for much higher impact uses such as residential development which creates major impacts on schools, roads, utilities, municipal services and watersheds.
- Vegetation management will primarily be done with periodic mowing and trimming. Little or no chemical vegetation control is planned. If any is used, it will be far less than farms or golf courses typically use.
- Hecate is also exploring the incorporation of pollinator-friendly vegetation and other co-development opportunities.
- It is anticipated that existing drainage will be maintained and in many cases improved due to Project construction. Addition of impervious surfaces will be limited and the land below the solar arrays will be planted with a low-growing seed mix of native grasses and other low-maintenance varieties to promote precipitation infiltration and reduce water run-off and soil erosion compared to agricultural production of row crops. In addition, Hecate is required to prepare a Final Stormwater Pollution and Prevention Plan (SWPPP) through the Section 94-c process. The Final SWPPP will describe the erosion and sediment control practices that will be implemented during construction activities and the post-construction stormwater management practices that will be used to reduce the pollutants in stormwater discharges after Project construction has been completed, including runoff reduction/green infrastructure practices, water quality treatment practices, and practices that control the volume and rate of runoff.
- We don’t anticipate any impact on private wells. Hecate has mailed out a well survey to landowners within 1,000 feet of the proposed Project. Included in the survey are questions about whether the parcel had well(s) on it, the size, yield, depth, and quality of water obtained from well(s) on the property, location in relation to any buildings on the property, if any type of water treatment system had ever been installed at the property, and if any issues had ever occurred with wells identified on the property. Hecate will review all responses received and the proposed Project will be sited in a manner that will avoid impacts to private wells.
- Unlike conventional electricity generation facilities, Cider Solar Farm produces no emissions. Emission-free electricity from the solar facility offsets air pollution from burning fossil fuels. A carbon emissions equivalency analysis conducted using USEPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalency Calculator indicates that nearly 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions would be offset by the electricity generated by Cider Solar – equal to taking over 89,000 passenger cars of the road for a year. [1]
[1] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator
(https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator)
- During construction, there are potential safety issues that are common to all sorts of construction projects, but there are no health-related effects from operating solar facilities. In fact, one of the most significant benefits of solar energy is that it results in very few air pollutants. An analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that widespread solar adoption would significantly reduce nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter emissions, all of which can cause health problems. NREL found that, among other health benefits, implementation of solar power results in fewer cases of chronic bronchitis, respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and lost workdays related to health issues.
- In addition to the positive emissions impacts, solar facilities are excellent protectors of watershed resources and help regenerate soil conditions. Unlike conventional power plants, operating solar facilities use little to no water. The low-impact design also maintains a porous surface area for local groundwater recharge. Furthermore, by using the right seed mix, solar sites can provide significant benefits related to soil regeneration and crop pollination over the 35- to 40-year life of the Project, allowing microorganisms and soil fauna to recover after years of regular farming.
- Solar facility are great neighbors. They operate quietly without emissions or water discharges and help to preserve open space.
- Hecate Energy is working with the community to explore co-development opportunities that promote the character of the local community -- consistent with local comprehensive planning goals.
- Community impacts will be rigorously studied in the siting process administered by New York State in conjunction with local stakeholders. Issues pertaining to community, wildlife or wetland impacts will need to be addressed as part of this comprehensive process.
- The community is highly encouraged to participate in this process (See How can I participate? below).
- As part of the comprehensive environmental assessment, Hecate Energy will evaluate the potential visual impacts of the project from a variety of locations surrounding the site. Closer views, (e.g. across the road) can be mitigated with vegetative screening. More distant viewshed impacts will be assessed with digital topography analyses.
- The electricity produced by the Facility will be delivered to local distribution grid after interconnection into the existing Dysinger - N. Rochester 345kV transmission line owned by New York Power Authority (NYPA)
- Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are largely associated with high voltage transmission lines and are not an issue with solar facilities.
- EMF occurs in all electrical equipment, including household appliances (televisions, microwaves, toasters, etc.) Solar facilities generate EMF comparable to household appliances.
- Health-related EMF issues have been extensively studied in peer reviewed publications and no links have been found between EMF and human health.
- The solar tracking arrays are built to robust ASCE engineering standards. In the event of extreme weather and high winds, operational procedures will be implemented to stow the trackers in a direction to best withstand high winds.
- Solar panel manufacturers provide 25-year warranties for their product and solar panels have been shown to outperform their warranties. This solar facility is expected to have a useful life of 25-35 years.
- This long-lasting technology is being deployed with the expectation that it will provide significant and sustainable benefit to the local community and electricity customers for decades.
- The project’s economics provide assurance of its long-term operation. Most of the project costs are incurred in developing, siting, and building the facility. Once the solar facility is up and running, maintenance costs are relatively minor. To recover start-up costs and earn a profit requires that the facility produce power for the full term of the 25-35 years of its planned life.
- Solar-produced electricity is increasingly competitive in power markets, so it is expected to become one of the lowest priced electric generation sources. After its planned life, the technology could be updated, or the site returned to agricultural use, depending on the wishes of the landowner.
- The project’s decommissioning plan is an integral part of the permitting process. Based upon landowner preferences, the land will be restored to agricultural use unless circumstances at the time of decommissioning indicate that another use is more appropriate.
- It will be configured as a ground-mounted solar facility with PV panels on galvanized steel tracker racking structures. It will include rows of single-axis trackers, oriented in a north-south direction, that rotate the PV panels from east to west following the sun’s daily path.
- The tracker structure is low-profile -- about 10 feet high above grade at the tallest point (about the height of field corn stalks). We will design and install the project with utility-standard safeguards.
- The solar panels planned for this project are the crystalline type commonly used for rooftop residential systems. They contain the same materials (glass, aluminum, plastic) used in many household products.
- Solar panels are non-hazardous and have been deployed in over 1 million residential home across the United States.
- The PV technology planned for deployment on this solar facility has been in use and continually refined since it was invented in 1954.
- More than 69,000 MW of solar power capacity is currently installed in the U.S. Another 15,000 MW of solar power capacity is expected to be installed annually over the next five years. [1]]
[1] U.S. Solar Market Insight, Solar Energy Industries Association, September 2019. (https://www.seia.org/us-solar-market-insight)
- Photovoltaic (PV) panels use the sun’s energy to produce direct current (DC) electricity that flows to on-site electrical inverters that turn DC electricity to alternating current AC electricity, which then flows to the electrical grid for consumers to use.
Hecate Energy is working to ensure that development, construction, and operation of Cider Solar Farm benefits the community and the environment. We refine our project design based on community feedback. We encourage the public to provide feedback on how we may potentially improve our project concept by participating in one of the following ways:
- Contact us directly
- Call Toll-free: 833-529-6597
- Attend our open house meetings. Please check back on our website for the schedule, which is yet to be determined.
- Request a project briefing for your group or organization