Strategic land use analysis for solar energy development in New York State

Venktesh V. Katkar, Jeffrey A. Sward, Alex Worsley and K. Max Zhang

Renewable Energy, 2021, vol. 173, issue C, 861-875

Abstract: This study investigates the spatial characteristics of existing utility-scale solar energy (USSE) development in New York State (NYS) and assesses the land-suitability for the future development of USSE needed to achieve the State’s renewable energy goals using GIS-MCDA techniques. Slope, proximity to electric substations, protected lands, and soil quality were used as criteria to develop land suitability scenarios. 40% of present USSE capacity has been developed on agricultural lands, and 84% of identified land suitable for future USSE development (∼140 GW potential) is agricultural. The USSE potential on non-agricultural land is 22.5 GW – just sufficient to accommodate the development of 21.6 GW, which is the estimated USSE capacity that will be required to achieve NYS’s 2030 goal of 70% renewable electricity. Thus, agricultural lands will be the prime target for future USSE development. Exploring the state-specific synergies for solar-agriculture colocation, preventing the spatially-concentrated development of USSE, and incentivizing the use of unproductive agricultural lands will help mitigate negative impacts of USSE development on agricultural lands.

Keywords: Solar; Site-suitability analysis; Land-use; Farmland; New York; GIS; MCDA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:173:y:2021:i:c:p:861-875

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.03.128

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