"Shepard Farm intends to lease the land to the solar company Borrego, which will operate the panels. The power is expected to go to Central Hudson Gas & Electric. A total of 17,496 panels for the two planned arrays will be used, with a 6,998-kilowatt array located on one parcel of land, and a 2,998-kilowatt array located on another; the land will be surrounded by a six-foot-tall fence with barbed wire. There will also be two areas for transformers, and data acquisition gear to monitor them. The southeast corner of the property was determined to be the only spot where the arrays will be visible" https://savinggreene.com/borrega-projects
The Biden administration on Wednesday unveiled a proposal for solar energy projects on federal lands that identifies 22 million acres in 11 western states best suited for development. The announcement is part of the Interior Department's push to site more renewable energy facilities on federal lands, a cornerstone of President Joe Biden's goal to decarbonize the U.S. electricity grid by 2035 and combat climate change.
The draft plan published on Wednesday would update an Obama-era policy that established special zones for solar projects in six states - Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Interior said changes to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) 11-year-old Western Solar Plan were necessary due to advances in technology, soaring demand for renewable energy and increased interest in solar development in northern states.
The new plan includes areas in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming and is focused on lands within 10 miles of existing or planned transmission lines because those areas are easier to develop, Interior said.
It also excludes 126 million acres from development due to conflicts with things like critical wildlife habitats, recreation, historic places and old growth forests. The plan relied on federal forecasts for clean energy needs to determine that 700,000 acres of public lands would be needed for solar energy over the next 20 years.
This map shows all several additional solar farms proposed for New York, many of much larger scale then existing facilities. Yellow balloons are (L) Regulatory approvals pending. Not under construction, Light Blue means (T) Regulatory approvals received. Not under construction, and Green is (P) Planned for installation, but regulatory approvals not initiated.
11/8/23 - UPDATED with September 2023 DATA This is an interactive map, so make sure to Zoom in to see the exact location of proposed solar farm, and click the balloon to get the full data reported to the Energy Information Agency.
Data Source: Energy Information Agency, Preliminary Monthly Electricity Generator Facilities EIA-860M, Released October 2023. Get the data: eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m
The North America Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) Daily Sunlight data available on CDC WONDER are county-level daily sunlight (insolation or solar radiation) observations spanning the years 1979-2011. Reported measures are the average daily insolation, reported in kilojoules per square meter (KJ/m2), the number of observations, and the range for the daily insolation values. Data are available by place (combined 48 contiguous states plus the District of Columbia, region, division, state, county), time (year, month, day) and specified daily sunlight value.
https://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/help/Insolation.html