The non-recyclable garbage we throw away today usually winds up in landfills. When those reach capacity, they are covered over and not a lot can be done with the space for quite some time. Methane capture is an option, but an equally, perhaps even more lucrative option is being pursued – turning them into solar farms.
In the USA, once a garbage dump has been filled, it is covered with special liners and soil placed over the top. While grasses may grow, the land generally cannot be built on, nor can trees be allowed to establish in case of damage to the liners. What lies beneath the liners remains a toxic stew for decades creating a multitude of environmental issues, including that old waste essentially creating huge tracts of wasted land.
Communities across the USA are increasingly looking towards these old landfills, which in total occupy hundreds of thousands of acres, to generate energy from commercial solar farms.
US company PV Navigator is is actively pursuing development of small scale solar panel projects at more than 10 former landfill sites in the Los Angeles basin and adjacent counties.
In the state of Massachusetts, Western Massachusetts Electric is planning a 17,000 solar panel facility to be built on 62 acres of capped landfill, which will produce 4.2 megawatts (MW) of solar energy.
Still in Massachusetts, in the town of Canton, Southern Sky Renewable Energy have proposed the construction of a 24,000 solar module plant on a local landfill, which will produce 5.6 megawatts clean electricity.
Large scale solar power installations can also be established on “brownfield” sites – abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities where the ground may be too toxic for other sorts of developments.
While solar’s flexibility in terms of siting doesn’t provide good excuse for the continued contamination of land, initiatives such as these certainly demonstrate that one man’s trash can be another’s treasure.
