Studying the Effects of Large-Scale Solar Farms on Plant Ecosystems in New York State Using NDVI Based Geospatial Analysis
| dc.contributor.author | Gee, Matthew | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-09-20T17:19:02Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-09-20T17:19:02Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The state of New York launched the 2015 New York State Energy Plan, which details goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by increasing renewable energy generation to 50% by 2030. To meet this energy demand, multiple large-scale solar energy facilities have been proposed for construction by 2030. However, this requires abundant land use for solar site establishment, creating a land use conflict with the surrounding vegetation and the environment. This report details the preliminary effects that solar farms will have on nearby vegetation, such as shading from solar panels. The subsequent study utilizes remote sensing in Google Earth Engine, geospatial applications in QGIS, and statistical analysis in R to analyze satellite imagery over New York State. Sentinel-2 land surface reflectance is processed to calculate normalized difference vegetation index to determine a significant change pre- and post-construction of solar farms. Results indicate that solar farms improve vegetation growth by providing shade and pooling water during the summer growing seasons, yet reduces growth during other months. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1813/113448 | |
| dc.rights | Attribution 4.0 International | * |
| dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | * |
| dc.title | Studying the Effects of Large-Scale Solar Farms on Plant Ecosystems in New York State Using NDVI Based Geospatial Analysis | en_US |
| dc.type | dissertation or thesis | en_US |
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