One man’s trash is another’s treasure. More and more, cities and towns across the nation are transforming old garbage dumps into new solar farms.
The city of Boston has built or has on the drawing board more than 16 solar farm projects throughout the state built on old landfills. The landfills have usually sat dormant for a number of years and have been granted closure permits, opening the lucrative door of solar farms.
Houston plans to transform a 300-acre landfill near its downtown area into a 10-megawatt solar farm.
New Jersey is developing one solar farm on an old landfill that will deliver enough power for up to 500 homes. It’s part of the state’s Master Energy Plan to use more renewable energy and reduce fossil fuel emissions by building on old landfills instead of open, unused private land.
Former worries about environmental issues seem be to a thing of the past. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency even helps cities make sure landfills present no environmental problems in the future. It did so with the city of Houston, providing help with engineering, financial and regulatory issues accompanying old landfill transformation.
Many cities and counties find that they can buy the energy at a fixed rate — like a home mortgage — and use it to power their government offices and schools.
What an amazing new trend — using old, dormant land for solar farms. To learn more about solar farm development and how you can make an impact in the world give our team a call today.
