The Unintended Consequences Of Going Green

Thanks to federal and state tax credits for renewable energy, utility-scale solar farms are booming in the Empire State. Adding fuel to the fire, the state has been incentivizing utility companies like PSEG to offer buy-back credit systems.

But these efforts to go green have had an unintended consequence in eastern Suffolk County: increased pressure on farmland and open spaces.Without these promotions, wind turbines or solar arrays would not be profitable, as raw, naked energy or base load power is cheaper than renewable," said Michael Kaufman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission.

Although it is possible to install solar arrays above parking lots, as was done in Hauppauge, or on the roofs of public buildings, they are not as cost-effective there as they can be on open land.

“We have oceans of parking lots,” said Mr. Kaufman. However, the upfront cost of solar installations is 50 percent more expensive, as is the cost of maintaining them over time. "You have to use galvanized steel," he said. "You have to clear them in the wintertime.”

"There is no tax benefit that makes it worth it," he said.

While roofs offer a good alternative, it can be very difficult to retrofit one for solar panels, as there are engineering components—arrays are heavy—and the building needs its roof to face the sun. A study of county buildings in 2015 yielded far fewer opportunities than expected for rooftop solar panels.

Wooded land is 25 percent more expensive to clear than already open space and, according to Mr. Kaufman, “people flip out" about clearing trees.

Since open fields are the most cost-effective place for arrays, the initial wave of installation in Suffolk County was on golf courses in places like Shoreham and Brookhaven. However, after some time, as solar technology advanced—meaning more energy could be stored and sold back—pressure began to build to use farmland as well.

Eventually, in Shoreman and Riverhead, solar arrays were installed on former farmland, creating public outcry. The towns of Riverhead and Brookhaven "realized utility-scale solar is not always appropriate in every situation" and wrote provisions into their codes about the importance of protecting "agricultural heritage and the farming industry, which needs a critical mass of farmers to be viable," Mr. Kaufman said.

Thanks to the large amount of preserved land in East Hampton and Southampton towns, farmland has yet to come under pressure in this area. Although both town supervisors are committed to renewable energy, they do not want it to come at the cost of their towns' agricultural heritage.

"The solar is there to protect the atmosphere and [mitigate] global warming," said Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman. "You've got two goals that might be in conflict."

Mr. Schneiderman, who said he is "all for solarizing," reported that farmland has not thus far been considered for installing utility-scale arrays in Southampton Town.

"The preservation of farmland has been a longstanding tradition in East Hampton," said that town's supervisor, Larry Cantwell. "Its purpose is to preserve the soil," he said. “You can't just find it anywhere."

Farmer and Sagaponack Village Board member Lee Foster agreed, speaking about the quality of the soil in Southampton Town and Sagaponack.

"Bridgehampton loam and some of those secondary soils were the resource of the East End," she said, adding that both soil and water bodies are this region's legacy. "I think we need to recognize we are here because of what we are supplied with," she said.

Although Ms. Foster—whose family has been farming for generations—supports renewable energy, she said she believes that it cannot come at the expense of farmland, a commodity under intense pressure on the East End.

At the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank, a working farm operated by Cornell Cooperative Extension on land leased from the county, one county legislator, Kate Browning, proposed to "alienate" a portion to dedicate to the installation of solar arrays.

In such cases, Ms. Foster said, early preservation efforts, while well-intended, have left loopholes that make it possible to use protected land for purposes other than food production.

"The practicality of these older instruments is being laid to waste by these legal experts," she said of early conservation agreements challenged today by attorneys seeking relatively tangential uses of farmland for their clients. "They find holes in it."

Eva Growney, a green architect and member of the county's Council on Environmental Quality, a bipartisan committee that advises the county about environmental issues on its land, said solar power is great, but that the county "has to manage lands in a responsible way," adding that turning the Cornell farm over to solar arrays would be "irresponsible."

The proposal at Yaphank was tabled following an outcry from a variety of local parties, including legislators and other members of government.

Mr. Kaufman conceded that there can be a "not in my backyard" attitude about solar arrays, but also described the current process as "carefully guided," as there has to be a balance between public good– renewable energy– and a private entity.

Looking at the example of Gabreski Airport in Southampton Town, the county worked with PSEG to request proposals from private renewable energy firms, ensuring that the utility company would then buy back a certain amount of energy at a specific rate. The county now leases land at the airport, which is used for solar arrays, to SunEdison, a private firm, for $180,000 a year.

"It turns out these things are not very pretty," Mr. Kaufman said, and the County Planning Commission is now requiring vegetative buffers to reduce the less-than-picturesque visual impact.

Meanwhile, East Hampton Town has turned to installing solar panels on former landfill sites and, in the future, the roofs of additional town buildings. “I would hope to see every building in town utilizing solar," Mr. Cantwell said.

"East Hampton right now doesn't want to lose open land, and neither does Southampton," said Mr. Kauffman. "The individual towns are saying that building on agricultural land is just shortsighted."

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