Henrietta, N.Y. (WHAM) — After a sunny August, some viewers began to question certain solar farm output data on the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority website.
One graph showed the capacity factor at one location for August at 18% in the city of Rochester, with the year so far showing an average of 14% output.
The concern: shouldn’t that number, at least for summer, be much higher?
“Simply powering New York state with solar is just a large waste of land and a large waste of natural resources,” said meteorology graduate Chris Martz, who is also a member of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. “Because I’m a land conservationist, I think we should have more natural landscape, more national parks. We should preserve that.”
Other farms show similar numbers, like Delaware River Solar, LLC on East River Road. Its capacity from February 2022 to November 2024 averaged in at 14.6% for electricity generated.
Martz said a good portion of the year in Upstate New York it can be overcast. He said solar on homes and businesses is a great idea, but large-scale solar projects? Not really. He said the average number for output varies, but seeing an average number in the 20s is about all you’ll get at a maximum for our region.
“But on average, it’s about 20% to 22% to 26% roughly,” Martz said. “That’s probably a margin of error there.”
On its best day, he said, solar doesn’t match other energy sources like coal or nuclear.
“Solar power has the lowest power density,” he said, adding, “The amount of energy that solar generates is between 5.8 and 11.6 watts per square meter. And then coal power is 26.3 to 105.2, natural gas is 185 to 740, and nuclear fission is 228 to 760 watts per square meter of energy. That’s just the power density, so solar is by far the lowest.”
Doreen Harris, president of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority said New York actually leads the nation in solar power, producing about 7 gigawatts of combined distribution. She said It’s part of an energy portfolio to create a greener future and ease the energy load, adding solar projects and partnerships in the state can range from small to large-scale.
“We certainly do see a diversity of resources as being beneficial to New York’s energy future,” said Harris, adding, “We’re deploying many different technologies in order to get from here to there from the perspective of a reliable and affordable and clean grid.”
Harris said we will never have the same solar generation as say, Arizona or New Mexico, “but we’ve really seen the ways in which this technology can continue to improve and benefit New Yorkers at the same time.”
She said the solar projects are actually a “huge savings to New Yorkers during the heat waves this summer,” adding the amount came in at about $90 million.
Charlie Remelt owns 100 acres of farmland in Henrietta, and about a quarter of it is dedicated to solar and rented out to a company. As a farmer, he is still able to grow chrysanthemums between the panels, which can shift and move to draw in maximum sunlight. He said farms like his helps feed the strained summer grid.
“Air conditioners, air handlers, running those all draws a lot of lot of energy, and having that supplemental during that time of year is a big plus,” he said.
Remelt added the town of Henrietta is very forward-thinking when it comes to green energy.
“Their farmland protection (allows) farmers to put solar on their property and generate some extra income to keep the properties from becoming all developed,” he said.
Harris also said when it comes to solar, it is a major generator of jobs and billions of private investment.
“We have 178,000 clean energy workers,” she said. “And when we look at solar development, it’s approaching 10,000 of those jobs.”