Hecate Energy has announced its plans to construct what will be New York state’s largest solar farm, a 500 MW solar farm in the Western New York towns of Elba and Oakfield. The US$ 500 million farm will provide over 500 construction jobs and once completed will be capable of providing 920,000 MW-hours of renewable electricity annually; enough to power over 120,000 average New York households. The proposed Cider Solar Farm, if approved would be interconnected on-site to New Rochester 345kV transmission line, the New York Power Authority Dysinger to deliver power to the New York State electricity grid. The solar farm would be constructed between 2022 and 2023 with an expected date of late 2023 of going online.
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It will be located on over 65 parcels of land comprising 4,650 acres of leased private land owned by 31 landowners with a total footprint that would be a little more than half of that total. Ground-mounted, single-axis tracking will be used on the project. Harrison Luna, the Hecate project lead stated, “this project provides a concrete example of the scale and speed with which we must move if we are to meet critical renewable energy goals. We are very appreciative of the leadership demonstrated by Oakfield and Elba town governments for the Cider Solar project. Our meetings have given us a deeper understanding of how to plan the project considering the unique priorities of the two communities where we want to become neighbors while the officials have helped us balance the needs of the communities with the needs of the project.”
“Hecate Energy has been an excellent partner with our community since the beginning by keeping us informed and including us in the process every step of the way. This project will bring welcomed revenues and job opportunities to the area for years to come while serving as an example for how to make renewable energy development part of a long-range economic plan.” said Elba Town Supervisor, Donna Hynes.
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