FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 22, 2026
Mayor Noble Announces Grant for Solar Array at Forsyth Nature Center
KINGSTON, NY – Mayor Steven T. Noble is pleased to announce that the City of Kingston has received $82,891 from the NYS Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation’s Zoos, Botanical Garden & Aquaria Grant Program for a solar array at the Forsyth Nature Center.
Mayor Noble said, “The Forsyth Nature Center is a beloved part of our Parks & Recreation portfolio and a treasure for our community. We are pleased to receive a grant to provide solar energy for the facility, to ensure that we can continue to support the center for generations to come. This effort also supports the City’s commitment to achieve 100% renewable and resilient community-wide electricity supply.”
With the funding, a new metal barn will replace the deteriorating horse barn, which was formerly the stable for the Kingston Police Department’s historic mounted patrol horses and now serves as a storage area for the facility’s maintenance equipment. The solar array will be a roof mount solar system on the new storage barn roof, estimated as a 25kW sized system, and will serve the Forsyth Nature Center facility directly, providing power for operations including lighting, heating, and cooling electrical loads for the critical animal facilities on the property, as well as covering the demand from the building itself.
Julie Noble, Sustainability Project Manager for the City of Kingston said, “We are working diligently, one facility at a time, to incorporate renewable energy into our portfolio. One building, one site at a time, we are steadily reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, and with State funding, saving money.”
The solar array project at the Forsyth Nature Center is expected to take 18 months to complete, once the City has a signed contract with NYS.
The City has previously installed solar arrays at the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center, the Albert Brown Community Center (formerly the Rondout Neighborhood Center), and the Andretta Pool House, with solar projects planned for Hasbrouck Park pavilion and a solar field on First Avenue.
Kingston is a designated Clean Energy Community and a Silver Certified Climate Smart Community. In our 2030 Climate Action Plan, we committed to achieving 100% renewable electricity in municipal operations by 2030. City staff also worked with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Cadmus, to develop a Roadmap to 100% Renewable Energy, a plan which outlines the energy transition for Kingston.
In September 2023, the City of Kingston received a Bronze designation from the U.S. Department of Energy’s SolSmart program for encouraging the growth of clean, affordable solar energy at the local level.
More about the City of Kingston’s solar projects can be found at https://engagekingston.com/solar-projects.
The Forsyth Nature Center is an outdoor learning center, facilitated by the Kingston Parks and Recreation. The center offers more than two-dozen animal exhibits and beautiful gardens that foster a connection to the natural world for visitors of all ages. The center is open year-round and is free to the public, and hosts more than 50,000 visitors annually, including school groups, adult groups and general public visitors. The facility is home to a variety of native, domestic and exotic animal exhibits, all designed for hands-on exploration for both children and adults.