Renewable energy infrastructure is booming globally, driven by improved tech, rising oil prices and global energy instability. But large, utility-scale solar projects often raise community concerns about land-use changes. Researchers have developed a model that overlays areas suitable for solar development with prime farmland and habitats critical for protecting biodiversity in New York. The model could inform solar siting decisions across the state, helping communities identify critical areas to protect.
The study, "Sustainability Trade-offs at the Nexus of Solar Energy, Agriculture and Biodiversity," published April 22 in Geography and Sustainability. The team of researchers from Cornell, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Central Michigan University assessed the geography of New York state according to three competing land-use priorities: solar development at the lowest cost, farmland preservation and biodiversity conservation. Their overlapping maps based on those priorities identified potential low-conflict sites and hotspots where competing priorities could lead to tradeoffs of potential solar development.
