很快纽约就将拥有一个15兆瓦的太阳能农场。芝加哥开发商CornerStone Power Development正规划在Coxsackie镇建设一个太阳能 农场。该项目将耗资6000万美元，将成为纽约首个大型太阳能安装项目。另一大型太阳能项目正在长岛开展，但Coxsackie镇的这个太阳能农场预计将率先完成。
Coxsackie项目表明，即使是在纽约州北部这样多云、沉闷的地区发展太阳能发电也是可行的。CornerStone计划在农田中安装太阳能系统，因此确保将所需面积方面不会太难。但公司仍需努力完成土地批准过程，那是相当耗时的事。
CornerStone预计该太阳能农场将于2012年开始运作发电。如果这一项目成功，在东北部将建立更多更大规模的太阳能项目。
Upstate New York will soon be home to a 15-megawatt solar energy farm.CornerStone Power Development, a Chicago-based developer, is planning to build the farm in the town of Coxsackie. The project should cost $60 million and would be New York's first large-scale solar installation, the Albany Times-Union reports Tuesday. Another large solar project is in development on Long Island, but the Coxsackie solar farm is expected to be finished first.
The Coxsackie project shows that, even in upstate New York - which is famous for cloudy skies and dreary weather - solar power can work. "We feel that solar is starting to make sense," Daniel Somers, an executive with CornerStone, said to the Times-Union. CornerStone plans to build its solar development on family farmland - so it should not be too difficult to secure the acreage that will be required. The permitting process still needs to be completed, though - and that could prove to be a time-consuming prospect.
Nevertheless, CornerStone expects its solar farm to be producing energy by 2012. If it proves to be a success, more large-scale solar installations could crop up around the Northeast.
