2010.03.04 – Solar PV Projects Generate New Value for Property That Once Was Trashed
from sunpluggers.com: http://sunpluggers.com/states/north-carolina/2010/03/solar-projects-generate-new-value-for-property-that-was-trashed-000113.php
The nation’s closed landfills are continuing a trend of remarkable transformations into solar power plants.
In recent weeks, solar installations at landfills have been announced or have started generating electricity in Texas, Georgia, Arizona and Massachusetts. “Brownfields,” former industrial sites that may contain contaminants, also are being converted to produce solar power in several states.
Now, in North Carolina, a 555-kilowatt array, called the Evergreen Solar Farm, has gone online at the former landfill of Evergreen Packaging, a century-old paper-products company.
“The solar age has dawned,” said Michael Shore, chief executive of FLS Energy, which owns and operates the solar array. “FLS Energy converted an old landfill to an electricity generation facility, creating jobs and clean energy along the way,” he added, according to a news release.
The utility Progress Energy Carolinas is buying the solar plant’s generated electricity for distribution to its customers. The project includes a 20-year power-purchase agreement, which is similar to a lease. These agreements often do not require any up-front cost. They are commonly used by businesses and governments to obtain solar electricity and are available to homeowners in a limited number of leading solar states, with more on the way.
At the end of 2008, the state of North Carolina had a total of less than 5 megawatts of grid-tied solar-electric generating capacity. Progress Energy alone now has 11 solar megawatts in production or under contract in the state, including eight large-scale arrays and a number of small projects.
“We believe that solar power, along with energy efficiency and state-of-the-art power plants, will play an important part of a balanced approach to meeting the challenges of growing energy demand and global climate change,” said John Smith, vice president of the western region of Progress Energy Carolinas, in the news release.
The 2,340 solar modules, from Georgia-based Suniva Inc., are mounted atop concrete pads that do not penetrate the landfill’s 2-foot-deep soil cap. The concrete provides a counterweight to high winds.
Suniva produces monocrystalline silicon solar cells and modules, the type with the highest efficiency. With solar photovoltaics, higher efficiency means that more power can be generated in less space.
“The modules are performing extremely well, demonstrating a powerful combination of high-efficiency solar technology and high-quality U.S. manufacturing,” said Mr. Shore of FLS Energy.
U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., spoke at a ceremony to mark the completion of the solar project.
“Sustainability and economic development can go hand-in-hand to provide solutions to climate change and the financial crisis,” he said. “I am proud to welcome the area’s first solar farm, and look forward to the impact it will have on creating jobs and sustaining our planet.”
