BlueWave, a solar developer with a commitment to agrivoltaics, is entering New York State with three solar projects in the design stage. The three projects total 16 MW and are all based in Johnstown in upstate New York.
“We’ve dug in deep on agrivoltaics, it’s now our default option for land use in our solar arrays,” Jesse Robertson-DuBois, director of sustainable development at Bluewave, told pv magazine USA.
All of the arrays will feature cattle-friendly agrivoltaics design, which, according to BlueWave, will be in alignment with local zoning integrate grazing sheep for natural vegetation management.
The three projects include Kecks Center Creek at 4.19 MWdc; Briggs Run at 6.57 MWdc; and Indian Road Pond at 4.37 MWdc. Nearly 30,000 Heliene solar modules will be mounted on trackers on each of the three projects. Heliene has manufactured solar modules in Ontario, Canada since 2010 and in Mountain Iron, Minnesota since 2018. The company also has a U.S. cell factory in the works with Premier Energies in the Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota metro area.
The community solar offtake structure enables local customers to subscribe and support the projects. Each project is intended to be made up of 40% commercial customers and 60% residential customers. BlueWave noted that part of the electricity is intended to go to low- to medium-income residents.
While BlueWave has been active primarily in New England states, this is its first foray into New York, a state that is an epicenter of community solar. New York hit the milestone of 1 GW of cumulative installations two years ago.
Agrivoltaics combines farming practices with solar photovoltaic energy production and is expected to become a $9.3 billion market by 2031. Experts at Allied Analytics say that the practice can help address food security while also transitioning to clean energy.
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