Massachusetts Developing Solar Farms on Old Landfills

June 23rd, 2011 by Reggie Norris

Former municipal landfills in Massachusetts that have been covered and left unused for years are being eyed as locations for renewable energy production. State officials are encouraging local municipalities to consider turning the former dumps into solar farms.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, more than two-dozen communities across Massachusetts are in process to convert these eyesores into solar energy farms. The state’s Energy Secretary, Richard Sullivan, says that if developed correctly, these solar projects can help local residents reduce their energy bills and generate revenue for cities. Other than the short term cost of building a solar farm, the long term cost for a solar farm is very low as the cost of fuel for a solar farm is zero. On the other hand, approximately 80% of the total cost of fossil fuel energy facilities is due to fuel acquisition costs which is also subject to price volatility due to spikes in global demand. As a result, local residents will be able to access electricity at a lower rate over a longer period of time with much more price stability from a muncipally owned solar farm than with fossil fuel plants.

These solar farms also have tremendous value when factoring in Massachusetts’ Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SREC) system. A SREC represents 1 megawatt-hour of electricity generated from an eligible renewable energy source. Just like stocks, SRECs are sold on an open market at varying prices correlated to demand. Utilities need to buy a certain amount of these credits to comply with a state’s renewable energy requrements. Dwayne Breger, the director of the renewable energy division at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources says prices for the solar renewable energy certificates can go as high as $550, ten times that of other renewable energy credits. Solar farms can help in producing these SRECs in large for utilities to purchase in order to comply with the states renewable energy requirements. This in turn can provide an additional source of revenue for the local municipality with the solar farm.

Recent Massachusetts solar include Western Massachusetts Electric Company plans to develop a 2 megawatt solar energy facility on a former landfill on Cottage Street in the city of Springfield. Construction on the $22 million project is expected to start this spring. The chief development officer for Springfield, John Judge says two other solar farm projects have been proposed in the city, including one on a brownfields site. Other communities in Western Massachusetts that are involved with projects to put solar panels on former landfills include Easthampton, Greenfield and Amherst.

Photo via iStockphoto

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Tags: landfills solar, landfills solar energy, landfills solar farms, landfills solar power, Massachusetts, Massachusetts clean energy, Massachusetts clean tech, Massachusetts cleantech, massachusetts landfills, massachusetts solar, massachusetts solar energy, massachusetts solar farms, massachusetts solar power

About the Author

Reggie Norris Prior to joining Clean Energy Experts, Reggie ran operations for the first completely carbon-neutral water company in the U.S., Nika Water Company that donates 100% of its profits to support projects that bring clean water and safe distribution to under-developed areas around the world. Prior to Nika, Reggie was a corporate & securities attorney for Wilson Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati where he represented high-growth consumer and technology focused start-up companies. Earlier, Reggie was a staff attorney for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. He holds a LLM from University of San Diego School of Law, a JD from University of California Hastings College of the Law and an AB in English from Stanford University.

Filipe Gazinelli L. F. Werneck

What I’ve been wondering is if the soil can stand the weight of the solar panels on it. Once I figure out how to technically assure that, it is going to be my graduating thesis on Engineering of Renewable Energy =)
Mark Kennedy

Wonderful Idea, Solar by day and methane by night.
- Anonymous
  
  Wind, geothermal, hydro, wave, tidal, storage and possibly a little methane at night once we get things set up.
http://twitter.com/cashsavedave David Ritko

All fine and dandy till they need lights at night! Still need a backup plant
- Anonymous
  
  That comment wins today’s “Dumb as a Rock” award….
  
  All power sources are less than 24/365 reliable. Loads come and go.
  
  All power sources need backup. It’s the way the grid works.
- Anonymous
  
  test post
- Anonymous
  
  test post
Anonymous

In the southern part of California’s Central Valley there are ruined farmlands, thousands of acres which have accumulated much mineral buildup from years of irrigation and inadequate rainfall to flush them clean.

These farms no longer produce crops. But they are now starting to be used as solar farms.

We’ve also got millions of acres of parking lots.

All of this is solar real estate just waiting to be used.
Misty River

Although I hate to admit it, this is brilliant. Anything we can do to go clean in energy usage and get away from Foreign dependence on oil is great.
- Johnny
  
  Don’t “hate to admit it” – be proud of the fact that you have public agencies thinking outside the box!
Anonymous

Perfect spot. And don’t forget ‘brown fields’. Great uses for land we’ve spoiled for most other uses.