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Solar Energy Ordinance Development and Agrivoltaics 2024


  • City:
  • Start Date:2024-03-12 09:00:00
  • End Date:2024-03-12 09:00:00
  • Length:
  • Level:Basic
  • Topics:Environmental

$179.00 ProPass

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Credit States Status Credits Earn credit until

This program is eligible for 2 hours of CLE credit in 60-minute states. In 50-minute states, this program is eligible for 2.4 hours of CLE credit. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules.

Overview

To address climate change, the Biden-Harris Administration has set a goal to drive down emissions in the power sector and scale up the production of clean energy. Solar energy has a key role in this initiative.

Growing Plants, Power, and Partnerships 

Hundreds of utility-scale projects have been proposed collectively across the Commonwealth, and in almost every county in Pennsylvania. Local officials, including land management and legal professionals, will be at the forefront of the decision-making process for these projects, as solar permitting is typically done locally.

With solar commonly being sited on open land, preserving prime agricultural soils for ag production is a common concern expressed by local officials across the state. 

How Solar and Agriculture Can Work for Each Other

Agrivoltaics, defined as agricultural production—such as crop or livestock production or pollinator habitats—underneath solar panels or adjacent to solar panels, reduces these concerns by co-locating agriculture and solar and providing potential benefits to producers. 

Both solar developers and those in the local community who care for the land—whether as farmland, rangeland, or native habitats—can benefit from agrivoltaics. And when all sides understand how they can benefit each other, low-impact solar development becomes easier.

Agrivoltaics is a potential tool in the toolbox for meeting our climate goals.

Agrivoltaics can support the transition to renewable energy while minimizing the impact to agriculture and agricultural land.

This program examines:

  • Trends driving utility-scale solar development
  • How local decision making, specifically solar ordinances, can direct solar facility siting, and better reflect the wishes of community members, while allowing for greater collective adoption of renewable energy in PA. 
  • Key issues in development of a solar ordinance. 
  • Techniques and technologies associated with agrivoltaics

Co-sponsored with the PBA Environmental and Energy Law Section.

Recorded in March 2024.

Faculty

Thomas Murphy, Solar Education Advisor

Tom Murphy is Team Pennsylvania’s Senior Managing Director, Strategic Energy Initiatives. He was previously the Director of Penn State’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research(MCOR) and provided leadership to a range of Penn State’s related energy outreach events and research activities.  Tom has 38 years of experience working with public officials, researchers, industry, government agencies, and landowners during his tenure with the Extension branch of the University. His work is centered on educational consultation in energy transitions, specifically at the convergence of shale gas, hydrogen, and renewables. His more recent emphasis focuses on a rapidly changing energy paradigm, which includes wider deployment of utility-scale solar, and the decarbonization implications of hydrogen for heavy industry and transportation. Primarily focused on the DNA H2Hub project, Tom has an ongoing partnership with the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors on the local implications of utility-scale solar energy across the Commonwealth.


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