THE NYSERDA 2023 SOILS DATA IS TO BE USED FOR NYSERDA’S RENEWABLE ENERGY STANDARD (RES) REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) ISSUED AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF THIS DATA OR THE NY-SUN PROGRAM AND IS NOT INTENDED TO REPRESENT ACTUAL IN SITU SOIL CONDITIONS.

In order to facilitate the protection of agricultural lands, developers participating in RESRFPs or the NY-Sun program may be responsible for making an agricultural mitigation payment to a designated fund based on the extent to which the solar project’s facility area overlaps with an Agricultural District and New York’s highly productive agricultural soils, identified as Mineral Soil Groups (MSG) classifications 1 through 4 (MSG 1-4). This mitigation approach is designed to discourage solar projects from siting on MSG 1-4. Furthermore, this mitigation approach is designed to encourage retaining agricultural productivity on the project site. Instances where Proposers cannot avoid or minimize impacts on MSG 1-4 will result in a payment to a fund administered by NYSERDA. Disbursement of collected agricultural mitigation payment funds will be informed by consultation with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (AGM) to support ongoing regional agricultural practices and/or soil conservation initiatives.

This dataset contains a combination of soils data from multiple sources to serve participants of NYSERDA’s Large-Scale Renewable and NY-Sun programs. The NYSERDA 2023 Soils Data was created by converting the 2023 New York State Agricultural Land Classification (https://agriculture.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2023/01/masterlistofagriculturalsoils.pdf) master list of soils maintained by AGM to a tabular form and providing a corresponding unique identifier for each listed soil that enables the user to link the soils to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) SSURGO soils database, allowing for a geographical representation. When the NYSERDA 2023 Soils Data is joined with spatial data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) SSURGO soils database (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/?cid=nrcs142p2_053627), the corresponding soil unit can be mapped in a geographic information system software. The latest version of the SSURGO database (https://nrcs.app.box.com/v/soils) should be used to get the most accurate join. Data is updated yearly from both NRCS and from AGM, however, NYSERDA will not update this dataset and it will remain intact for future reference. NYSERDA intends on creating new soils datasets for future procurements on an annual basis.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) offers objective information and analysis, innovative programs, technical expertise, and support to help New Yorkers increase energy efficiency, save money, use renewable energy, and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. To learn more about NYSERDA’s programs, visit nyserda.ny.gov or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram.