RE-USED LAND FOR SOLAR SITE

Closed landfill may become solar energy site
Jessica A. York, July 18, 2009 (Vallejo Times-Herald)

"…The Napa-Vallejo Waste Management Authority is in talks with a Vallejo energy company to install a $25 million to $35 million solar array atop a closed landfill outside American Canyon.

"The estimated 6.7 megawatts produced on the closed landfill could provide enough energy to power 3,200 homes, reduce carbon emissions by about 7,500 cars' worth and equal the planting of about 12,000 acres of trees, according to a project write-up by applicant Larry Asera."

This former brownfield now generates solar energy in Brockton, Mass. (click to enlarge

"The landfill once served Vallejo, American Canyon, the city of Napa and Napa County. Vallejo City Councilman Tom Bartee, chairman of the waste management authority, said he asked Asera to pitch a possible public-private solar energy plan for the site…Asera, who served on the Vallejo City Council in the 1970s and runs energy and environmental technology company Asera Group, Inc., would be in charge of securing funding for the project…

"The proposed solar station is ideal for a sealed landfill site because little else can rest on top of such land, Bartee said. The power generated could be used to power methane gas monitors…The savings could offset costs of an Authority trash transfer station's needs, Bartee said…Methane gas emissions are already being used to power two turbines on the landfill site…"

Vallejo already operates this solar project off a local parkway. (click to enlarge)

"Operations ceased at the American Canyon Sanitary Landfill in 1995 and it was officially closed in 2006. The proposed energy park is expected to reduce Authority carbon generation, produce "clean energy," and create so-called green-collar jobs and new revenue…

"Officials are expecting grant applications for federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the California Solar Initiative's Performance-Based Incentive program to fund initial investment and early operating costs. Funding also likely will come from private investors and U.S. Department of Energy-guaranteed loans…"