NYC to Build Wind and Solar Farm on Old Dump Site

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

---

Who would know that an old garbage dump at Staten Island in New York City would house 20 MW of renewable power? If they succeed with their plans, “Fresh Kills landfill” will be transformed into a combined solar and wind farm that could generate enough electricity to power 6,000 average American households!

The old landfill has serviced the city for 53 years, and taken care of a whopping two billion tons of thrash, before closing early in 2011.

Soliciting Bids

NYC says it has 75 acres that are available for lease, and it is currently soliciting bids to see who’s qualified for the job. It will be interesting to see what the bids end at — the main motivator for the companies to be involved is cost-competitive electricity from solar and wind power.

The Future Looks Green

Last week, Deputy Mayor Holloway stated the following about the project:

“New York City needs energy to keep it running, and we want that power to be reliable, clean, and affordable. Renewable energy is the most sustainable kind, and under Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership we’re maximizing the use of City assets to develop as much capacity as possible.”

Financial support from the government and states is exactly what we need to push renewable energy forward. This is what has made the solar power industry in Germany triumph, resulting in the country becoming the largest shareholder of the world’s PV solar cells. Even with the recent proposal of cutting subsides as much as 30%, German energy policies could make solar in America a lot more affordable.

We sure hope that NYC’s renewable energy plans go through as dreamed. This would mean a doubling of the city’s renewable power capacity, and could be the catalyst for similar projects in the future.

It sure will be interesting to see how the project develops. In the meantime, feel free to comment below with what you think about NYC’s plans.