Soil Health and Carbon Sequestration at the Great Cove PV Array

In 2020, University of Pennsylvania contracted with energy developer AES to build a utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) array on 1,600 acres of agricultural land in Central Pennsylvania as part of its commitment to reducing carbon emissions associated with the University’s energy use. The Great Cove solar project will produce approximately 420,000 MWh of clean electricity per year. This project provides an opportunity to explore relationships between the benefits of clean energy production and the impacts (positive or negative) on landscape carbon stocks, land use productivity and soil heath, using the Great Cove project as a site-specific case study. The project is collaboration between the Plante Lab, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, and AES Solar.