SANFORD — Could a capped, former landfill be a good spot for a solar farm?
Former landfills across the country are being used as locations for solar farms, creating electricity to power municipal buildings and homes and businesses. According to a May 26 story in the New Jersey Star-Ledger, there are 17 solar projects on landfills and brownfields sites across the Garden State.
Whether it could work in Sanford is being explored as a local nonprofit and the city both look to reduce their energy costs.
If it turns out to be feasible, a solar array on the old Rushton Street landfill could provide enough energy to power all of the municipal buildings and streetlights, as well as the school buildings and the Waban properties ”“ and would have some electricity to spare.
Waban Executive Director Neal Meltzer said he’s been looking for ways to reduce the agency’s utility bills for the past several years. Waban, which provides services for developmentally disabled children and adults, owns not only a campus on Route 4, but several properties in town.
Waban’s electric bill runs around $100,000 annually, Meltzer estimated, so savings on electricity costs could be a big help.
“A decrease on expenses will allow us to focus on programs,” he said.
Meltzer began doing some research and explored installing solar panels on the campus roof. He then started looking farther afield, for a bigger area. He approached the city, looking first at Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport, but the Federal Aviation Administration has placed a moratorium on the practice.
Then, the idea of exploring the use of the landfill emerged when city officials were at a federal Environmental Protection Agency brownfields conference earlier this year.
City Manager Steve Buck said Sanford spends $310,000 on electricity for municipal buildings and streetlights. Figures weren’t available Wednesday from the school department.
Buck said the city and Waban are looking at a 5-megawatt facility. Meltzer said Waban, as a nonprofit, could bring access to federal tax credits to the table, offsetting construction costs.
The array being eyed is a shallow ballast system, in order to preserve the integrity of the landfill cap.
The proposal would require conversations with Central Maine Power and with a number of state agencies.
The Vermont-based company GroSolar is conducting the feasibility study. GroSolar has located solar farms on a number of brownfields sites and has staff who have experience with landfills, said Steve Remen, GroSolar’s executive vice president of business development. He said the Sanford study is in the early stages.
If the project proves to be feasible and moves forward, Meltzer said it would be the largest solar farm in Maine, and the only municipal-nonprofit partnership.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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