Long Island Solar Farm

Long Island Solar Farm
Location of Long Island Solar Farm in New York
Country	United States
Coordinates	40°52′N 72°51′W / 40.867°N 72.850°WCoordinates: 40°52′N 72°51′W / 40.867°N 72.850°W
Status	Operational
Construction began	2010
Commission date	November 2011
Owner(s)	BP Solar & MetLife
Solar field
Type	Flat-panel PV
Site area	200 acres (80.9 ha)
Power generation
Units operational	164,312
Nameplate capacity	37 MWp
Annual generation	44 GWh (5 MW avg)

The 32 MW AC^[1] Long Island Solar Farm (LISF), located in Upton, New York, is the largest photovoltaic array in the eastern U.S. The LISF is made up of 164,312 solar panels from BP Solar which provide enough electricity for roughly 4,500 households. The project will cause the abatement of more than 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. LISF is co-owned by BP Solar and MetLife through Long Island Solar Farm LLC. Municipal utility Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) buys the 37-megawatt (MW, 49,600 hp)^[2] power plant's output, which is estimated at 44 GWh annually, under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA). Payments over that time are expected to total $298 million (34¢/kWh, 60¢/LIPA customer/month).^[3][4] The project was engineered by Blue Oak Energy and construction subcontracted to Hawkeye LLC from Hauppauge, New York.^[5] The plant earned the Best Photovoltaic Project of Year Award from the New York Solar Energy Industries Association.^[6][7] The panels are mounted at a fixed tilt angle of 35°, with the rows spaced approximately 18 ft 4 in (5.59 m) apart.^[2]:p.12

The solar farm uses 25 of the 1.25 MVA inverters and a 34.5 kV collector system. Since the connection to the grid is at 69 kV, and acquiring a spare step-up transformer of that capacity has a long lead time, a spare transformer is maintained onsite.^[8] Each inverter has an associated meteorological station to help researchers correlate plant output with observed and predicted weather, to help learn how to integrate photovoltaics into the power grid.

A formal case study^[9] of the development of the Long Island Solar Farm was published by the U.S. Department of Energy in May 2013.

Generation (MWh)^{[2]:p.30 [10]}

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2011											3,435	3,008	6,443
2012	3,435	4,056	4,837	5,910	4,693	5,611	5,447	5,433	4,672	3,402	3,370	2,101	53,128
2013	2,846	2,935	4,477	6,055	5,421	5,582	5,336	4,697	5,083	4,163	3,076	2,146	51,817
2014	2,253	3,222	4,537	5,506	5,264	5,499	5,666	5,592	4,546	3,465	3,168	2,104	50,822
2015	2,898	3,223	4,116	5,270	6,020	4,980	5,545	5,784	5,058	4,424	3,187	1,782	52,287

Eastern Long Island Solar Project

The 17 MW (AC) Eastern Long Island Solar Project or Suffolk Solar Carport Project consists of a group of projects, three at LIRR carparks. $124 million has been allocated to pay for the electricity generated, over 20 years, from the project (approximately 27¢/kWh).^[11] Plans to install solar panels at Ronkonkoma LIRR have stalled.^[12][13]

Project Locations^[14]

Location	Town	Output (MW AC)	Modules	Number of arrays
H. Lee Dennison Building	Hauppauge	1.75	7,737	24
North County Complex	Hauppauge	0.5	3,431	9
Cohalan Court Complex	Central Islip	3.5	15,113	27
Riverhead County Center	Riverside	3	11,536	31
Brentwood LIRR Parking Lot	Brentwood	1	3,924	11
Deer Park LIRR Parking Lot	Deer Park	2.25	3,924	39
Ronkonkoma LIRR Parking Lot (south)	Ronkonkoma	5	20,110	44

Brentwood Generation (MWh)[15]
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2013	59	61	93	126	113	117	113	98	107	86	64	45	1,082
2014	57	82	115	140	134	141	145	144	120	88	81	54	1,301

Cohalan Generation (MWh)[16]
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2013	267	274	418	569	511	527	508	440	483	389	291	203	4,880
2014	228	326	458	559	536	562	581	574	478	352	322	214	5,190

Deerpark Generation (MWh)[17]
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2013	183	188	287	390	350	361	348	302	331	267	200	139	3,346
2014	157	226	317	387	370	389	402	397	331	243	223	148	3,590

Dennison Generation (MWh)[18]
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2013	143	146	223	304	273	282	271	235	258	208	156	109	2,608
2014	112	160	225	274	263	276	285	281	234	172	158	105	2,545

North County Generation (MWh)[19]
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2013	143	146	223	304	273	282	271	235	258	208	156	109	2,608
2014	112	160	225	274	263	276	285	281	234	172	158	105	2,545

Riverhead Generation (MWh)[20]
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2013	109	111	170	232	208	214	207	179	197	158	118	83	1,986
2014	85	122	172	210	201	211	218	215	179	132	121	80	1,946

Clean Solar Initiative

LIPA has a Clean Solar Initiative which will install an additional 50 MW of solar photovoltaics, to be paid $0.22/kWh over a 20-year period. 5 MW is reserved for small systems of from 50 kW to 150 kW, 10 MW for systems from 150 kW to 500 kW, and the remaining 35 MW is for systems of any size, up to 20 MW. All systems must be connected to the grid at the 13.2 kV level. Systems connected before July 2012 are not eligible.^[21][22]

References

1. Long Island Solar Farm
2. Site Data pg. 8
3. Power's on at BP's Long Island Solar Farm
4. LIPA flips switch on Long Island Solar Farm
5. "Utility Scale Solar Projects", BlueOakEnergy.com.
6. "Long Island Solar Farm Opens in Upton". Long Island Press. November 21, 2011.
7. Hering, Garrett. "BP Solar completes 37 MW project in New York – largest PV system on East Coast". PHOTON - The Solar Power Magazine. November 2011: 31.
8. "Long Island Solar Farm Goes Live!", BlueOakEnergy.com.
9. The Long Island Solar Farm
10. Long Island Solar Farm
11. "LIPA Procurement Report", pg. 38, lipower.org.
12. Ronkonoma Solar Project Makes Way For Hub
13. Firm sues Suffolk over solar carport contracts
14. enXco Eastern Long Island Solar Project
15. Brentwood
16. Cohalan
17. Deerpark
18. Dennison
19. North County
20. Riverhead
21. "Long Island Power Authority announces Feed-In Tariff", NixonPeabody.com.
22. "Clean Solar Initiative Feed-In Tariff", lipower.org.

External links

• Aerial view
• Photos