Chicago-based Hecate Energy filed an application with the New York State Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) to build a $500 million, 500 MW solar farm in the towns of Elba and Oakfield, southwest of Rochester.
If approved and built, the Cider Solar Farm would be one of the largest solar projects built in New York State.
Hecate Energy said the proposed project would interconnect on-site to the New York Power Authority Dysinger – New Rochester 345kV transmission line to deliver power to the New York State electricity grid. The project would be built between 2022 and 2023, with a planned in-service date of late 2023.
The project would be located on more than 65 parcels of land comprising 4,650 acres of leased private land owned by 31 landowners. The project’s total footprint would be a little more than half of that total. The proposed project would use ground-mounted, single-axis tracking.
New York State’s Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act created the new ORES and rules for the permitting of large-scale renewable energy projects. It is intended to enhance the siting and construction of projects with input from local communities. Hecate’s Cider Solar 94-c application is one of the first new applications submitted to ORES.
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Is this going to be in an agrivoltaic form, encourage agriculture under the solar panels?