Massive formations of solar panels have consumed large swaths of open space in Shoreham, including the highly regarded Tallgrass Golf Course, and soon they will come for more than 500 acres of Calverton and the remains of the former Calverton Links, according to Newsday.
Ten parcels of Calverton land totaling 575 acres will be converted into a tremendous solar-energy development scheduled for completion in 2020, Newsday reported last week.
Those parcels include land in use today as sod farms and potato fields, as well as other non-agricultural sites, like Calverton Links, which abruptly closed as a golf course in 2013 and is now used as a paintball venue and outdoor event space. A recently built 46-acre solar farm already exists on Edwards Avenue across from the Links property.
Golfers at Calverton Links might recall the course's bucolic setting, especially its back nine, bordered by nothing but fields and farms. That setting, and the Edwards Avenue corridor that serves as one of the quiet gateways to the North Fork and Long Island Wine Country, will soon become what Newsday describes as "ground zero for big, utility-scale solar energy on Long Island."
While solar advocates praise these developments for their focus on renewable energy, others have questioned if such large-scale consumption of open space is a positive for Long Island's future.
Sean Walter, the supervisor of Riverhead Town, said he’92s had discussions with the energy companies about the approvals that will be needed for construction to start on the Calverton projects, about which he’92s not particularly thrilled.
’93Something is wrong when you are taking prime agricultural land out of production,’94 he said. ’93You have to seriously ask yourself, is solar the right way to go when you are taking so much land out of product in order to produce solar for a few houses? That’92s a philosophical question we have to answer.’94 — Mark Harrington, Newsday, 8/13/2017
Back in Shoreham, the solar farm that destroyed the Gil Hanse-designed Tallgrass Golf Course was in the news again last week, as its Chicago-based developer Invenergy reportedly sold the development to Charlotte-based Duke Energy. Newsday reported the project, dubbed Shoreham Solar Commons, will cost ratepayers $177 million over 20 years, "reflecting the cost to purchase all the energy it produces for the Long Island Power Authority."
PICTURED: Calverton Links in June 2013, shortly before its closing.