This Earth Day, New York leaders must do more to embrace solar energy | Opinion

3-minute read

• New York aims to generate 70% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, according to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
• Large-scale solar projects like the Cider Solar Farm, set to be New York’s largest, are crucial for achieving the CLCPA’s goals.
• Solar energy projects offer economic benefits, including job creation and revenue generation for local communities.
• These projects also contribute to farmland preservation through agricultural mitigation payments.

Earth Day is an important opportunity to measure our progress in creating a cleaner planet and healthier communities. For New Yorkers, that starts with reviewing our state’s progress toward meeting its green energy goals. While the last year has seen its share of challenges, one of the bright spots has been the rapid growth of solar power generation capacity in the state. To maintain that progress — and the economic and environmental benefits it provides — we need local, county and state decision-makers to step up and support large-scale solar projects in New York.

New York is already a leader when it comes to renewable energy. We produce more power from renewable sources than any other state east of Mississippi — with solar energy accounting for nearly 5% of our state’s total annual power generation.

Guiding these investments are targets established under the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, of CLCPA, which committed the state to generating 70% of its total energy needs from renewable sources by 2030, with a longer-term net-zero target by 2040. Despite strong momentum behind solar and other renewable projects, New York still has a ways to go if we are going to meet our energy aspirations.

New large-scale solar projects are critical to the goals outlined in the CLCPA. Among those is the Cider Solar Farm, currently in the early phases of construction in Genesee County, where it is set to become New York’s largest solar farm once it becomes operational in late 2026. Upon completion, Cider is slated to supply approximately one million megawatt-hours of green energy annually. That’s enough energy to power 120,000 New York households each year.

Cider is part of a cohort of 23 large-scale renewable energy projects announced last year by NYSERDA. In addition to reducing carbon emissions — Cider is expected to offset carbon emissions equivalent to those produced by 141,794 passenger vehicles annually — large-scale solar projects offer concrete economic benefits to communities. Over the course of its lifetime, Cider is expected to generate roughly $100 million in revenues to the local economy — funds that can be reinvested in schools, libraries, roads and other important infrastructure.

Renewable energy is also a job creator for New York residents. Already, solar energy projects across the state have generated 14,000 jobs for New Yorkers. Cider is expected to create hundreds of good-paying jobs, many of which will be filled by highly skilled local union workers, as well as long-term employment for staff maintaining and operating the installation.

These jobs represent new opportunities for workers laid off by businesses leaving the state, like the shuttered Sumitomo Rubber USA’s Dunlop tire factory in Buffalo. Immediately following the factory’s closure, our union labor partners worked to recruit the facility’s skilled manufacturers for work on Cider and other green energy projects around the state. This demonstrates how renewable energy is and can continue to be an employment center and economic pillar for communities across New York.

Solar projects can also play a role in protecting and preserving the long-term viability of farmland in rural New York communities. By prioritizing land that is unsuited for agriculture or by integrating solar operations with modern farming techniques, solar projects offer farmers and landowners additional revenue streams through long-term lease payments. These present valuable opportunities for partnerships between agriculture and renewable energy projects in our state.

Moreover, as part of the permitting process that allows a project like Cider to move forward, developers must make an Agricultural Mitigation Payment that contributes to a fund dedicated to buying and preserving additional farmland across the state. 

New York has big green energy aspirations — and that’s a good thing. But the state risks missing out on achieving its ambitions, as well as the numerous environmental, economic and energy security benefits offered by solar energy projects, at its current pace. This Earth Day, it is important that decision-makers support large-scale solar projects in their region, like Cider, to help realize our shared vision for a more sustainable, resilient and prosperous New York.

Dan De Boer is CEO of Greenbacker Capital, independent power producer and energy transition-focused investment manager based in New York city that is leading development of Cider.