Greenbacker Starts Building 500-MW Cider Solar Farm, New York’s Largest

• Greenbacker Renewable Energy kicks off full construction on the 500-MW Cider Solar Farm in Genesee County, set to power 120,000 New York homes by 2026.

Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company has broken ground on Cider Solar Farm, a 500-megawatt project in Genesee County that will be the largest solar facility ever built in New York. Crews have shifted from preliminary site prep to heavy civil and mechanical work, driving steel piles and assembling the racking that will hold more than a million photovoltaic panels. By late summer, every phase of construction—from electrical cabling to tracker installation—will be running at full throttle.

The scale of the undertaking is hard to overstate. Spread across roughly 2,500 acres of former farmland, Cider Solar is designed to generate about one million megawatt-hours of electricity a year—enough to meet the needs of 120,000 average New York households and offset more than half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Commissioning is slated for the fourth quarter of 2026.

Greenbacker acquired the fully permitted development from Chicago-based Hecate Energy, financing the purchase and build-out with a USD 950 million loan package that covers construction and long-term operations. “With Cider Solar we’re pairing significant private capital with New York’s ambitious climate goals,” said Charles Wheeler, Greenbacker’s chief executive. “The project will deliver reliable, affordable clean power while creating durable benefits for Genesee County.”

Those local benefits are substantial. During peak activity the site will employ more than 500 union and skilled-trade workers, many hired from surrounding communities. Over its 35-year lifespan, the solar farm is expected to generate roughly USD 100 million in tax revenue and land-lease payments, supporting county services and injecting steady income into family-owned properties that host the arrays.

State officials view Cider Solar as a cornerstone of New York’s drive to source 70 percent of electricity from renewables by 2030. The project will also strengthen grid reliability by feeding large volumes of midday power into a region grappling with the retirement of aging fossil-fuel plants.

As the first rows of shimmering panels rise above Genesee County’s fields, Cider Solar offers a vivid snapshot of how America’s agricultural heartland is evolving—harvesting sunlight as well as crops to fuel the next generation of growth.