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Letter | Shepherd’s Run Solar Farm, Part of the Climate Change Solution
Past presidents as different philosophically as Reagan and
Obama asked Americans: "If not us, who? If not now, when?"
Today, the question is about the clean energy needed to combat
climate change. President Biden has answered with a pledge that the U.S. will
cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.
In New York, lawmakers established similar goals and created
one of the country’s most rigorous programs (94-c) for siting environmentally
responsible energy projects. The process requires extensive review of the
projects’ environmental impacts and input from the local community.
New York needs 6,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2025. That’s
why grid-scale solar projects, such as Shepherd's Run Solar Farm in Copake, are
vital. They produce less expensive electricity than smaller installations and
use technology that follows the sun to optimize output and minimize land
use.
Shepherd's Run is a comprehensive project that helps sustain
local farming operations, provides significant increased revenue to local
taxing jurisdictions, preserves soil resources for future agricultural use,
protects wetlands, enhances water quality by planting native vegetation and
cultivates pollinator species.
Hecate Energy has been working with the community and local
officials every step along the way and would continue to do so. We’ve downsized
the project area from 480 acres to 255 acres. We eliminated battery storage on
the site.
We’ve seen the effects of climate change in the Hudson Valley.
We must act now, and Shepherd’s Run Solar Farm looks forward to being part of
the solution.
Alex Campbell
Hecate Energy