Last Thursday afternoon, April 23, was the ideal spring day to find oneself inside the Spring Farm entrance to the Mohonk Preserve, home to the famed Million-Dollar View of the Catskills to the northwest. The temperature peaked at just a bit over 70 degrees; the wind was calm, humidity low; the sky was bright blue and nearly cloudless. Thus it was an even more perfect day for the unveiling of the Preserve’s newest human-made marvel: a ground-mounted 132-kilowatt solar array. “The sun’s shining on it and it’s cranking electricity!” exulted Kevin Case, president and CEO of the Preserve.
Arrayed in five rows in an open field behind the Preserve’s maintenance barn, where trucks, tractors and ski trail groomers are stored out of the elements, the installation includes 226 state-of-the-art bifacial glass-on-glass solar modules, each with a rated capacity of 585 watts. The system is anticipated to offset 84 percent of the Preserve’s total electric usage, generating an estimated 168,085 kilowatt hours of power and reducing its carbon footprint by 70 metric tons of CO₂ per year: the equivalent of eliminating 176,000 miles driven by gas-powered vehicles. “It has already been producing four households’ worth per year of electricity since it was turned on ten weeks ago,” Case said.
The new array is the Preserve’s first large-scale solar project and marks a significant step toward the organization’s commitment to achieving full carbon neutrality by the year 2030. At an installation cost of $330,000, the solar panel system is expected to generate $42,000 worth of electricity annually. Funding for the project was derived from grants from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s Building Cleaner Communities Competition; the Zoos, Botanical Gardens & Aquaria Capital Grant Program administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; and the Federal Tax Investment Tax Credit.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the installation is the subtlety of its siting. It’s only a few hundred yards below the Slingerland Pavilion, the large rustic shelter often rented out as a wedding venue and cherished for its sweeping vistas. But because it’s located down a short, steep slope, the solar array is not visible at all from either the pavilion or the wildflower meadow that surrounds it. Attendees at Thursday’s ribbon-cutting event were taken for a short walking tour afterwards just to prove that point. It’s true: The views are uncompromised.
Case touted the carefully chosen site as “already treeless, positioned near an existing weather monitoring system and away from the trails.” The maintenance barn was wired for electrical service, so upgrading carrying capacity and bringing the cables a little further back was not a heavy lift. Many of those in attendance at the opening event expressed agreement with Case’s assessment, including Jerry Nappi, director of public affairs at Central Hudson: “It’s an important emission-free resource, really well-sited. Locally sited generating facilities help support the grid.”
Central Hudson oversaw the hookup, but design and installation of the new array was the handiwork of Hudson Solar + Battery Solutions, whose president and founder, Jeff Irish, was on hand for the unveiling. He related how he had abandoned a long career as an electrical engineer at General Electric to pursue alternative energy solutions after witnessing a jet flying ominously low over the Hudson River from his Rhinebeck home on September 11, 2001. “I said to myself, ‘There’s got to be a better way to get our energy than from the Middle East,’” Irish recalled. “I have 22,500 solar systems installed to date. I’m looking forward to the day we replace oil.”
A number of political dignitaries were on hand, including Ulster County executive Jen Metzger, who thanked the Preserve for “being a model” and offering “demonstration value” for the potential of solar energy generation, before presenting Case with a certificate of appreciation. Those lawmakers who were tied up in budget or legislative negotiations – including congressmen Pat Ryan and Josh Riley, state senator Michelle Hinchey and assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha – sent staff members to represent them. Dan Torres, who works in Ryan’s office, pointed out that the site had been in Ryan’s bailiwick prior to redistricting, and is now on Riley’s turf. Kevin Case had earlier noted that Spring Farm straddles the dividing line between two State Senate districts: Hinchey’s 41^st and Peter Oberacker’s 51^st.
Torres also serves as a Mohonk Preserve board member, as does Lindsey Grossman, county legislator for District 19, where the site is located. Noting that she lives right across from the Spring Farm entrance to the Preserve, Grossman said that she had kept close watch on the process of siting the project and obtaining necessary permits from the Town of Marbletown. “This is what good stewardship looks like in practice,” she said. “There were thoughtful conversations about access. It was done with diligence, and a willingness to do the right thing for the community and neighbors. This is what we need more organizations doing in today’s world.”
Marbletown supervisor Rich Parete enthusiastically agreed, praising the Preserve’s patience and willingness to navigate the lengthy process of review by the town’s planning and zoning boards. “This project is in tune with everything that the Mohonk Preserve does. It’s forward-thinking,” he said. “Marbletown is honored to have so many thousands of acres of the Preserve in the community.”
The solar generation project is part of a broader sustainability strategy that includes electrifying the Preserve’s vehicle fleet, transitioning historic buildings to heat pump systems and enhancing forest and farmland management for greater carbon capture and climate resilience. Kevin Case noted that the original impetus for the solar project had come from plans to renovate the historic Brook Farmhouse to become the new headquarters for the Preserve’s conservation and land protection programs, formerly housed at the Elms Cottage. According to Paul Huth, conservation director for the Preserve for many decades, “The conservation staff will be located in the Brook Farmhouse as of July this year.”
Frances Marion Platt has been a feature writer (and copyeditor) for Ulster Publishing since 1994, under both her own name and the nom de plume Zhemyna Jurate. Her reporting beats include Gardiner and Rosendale, the arts and a bit of local history. In 2011 she took up Syd M’s mantle as film reviewer for Alm@nac Weekly, and she hopes to return to doing more of that as HV1 recovers from the shock of COVID-19. A Queens native, Platt moved to New Paltz in 1971 to earn a BA in English and minor in Linguistics at SUNY. Her first writing/editing gig was with the Ulster County Artist magazine. In the 1980s she was assistant editor of The Independent Film and Video Monthly for five years, attended Heartwood Owner/Builder School, designed and built a timberframe house in Gardiner. Her son Evan Pallor was born in 1995. Alternating with her journalism career, she spent many years doing development work – mainly grantwriting – for a variety of not-for-profit organizations, including six years at Scenic Hudson. She currently lives in Kingston.




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© 2022 Ulster Publishing
© 2022 Ulster Publishing

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