Dive Brief:
- A Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) project is underway at Kinsley landfill in Sewell, New Jersey. It is slated to become the biggest solar array in the state.
- The Kinsley solar farm will use 35 acres out of the 140-acre site. The array is expected to produce enough electricity to power around 2,000 households.
- The site was selected as the prime location for the solar arrays after a consultant reviewed more than 700 shuttered landfills across the state.
Dive Insight:
New Jersey is in the process of installing solar farms onto abandoned landfills and vacant brownfields. According to Ralph LaRossa, president and CEO of PSE&G, “Two clean goals of New Jersey’s energy policy are to support solar development in the state ands maintain scarce open space. We are building enough grid-connected solar generation to power thousands of homes while reclaiming landfill space that has limited development opportunities.”
The state expects to install an additional 42 megawatts of solar arrays, and, according to PSE&G, is working toward negotiating an agreement for a 13-megawatt solar project on a shuttered waste site. The utility company is focusing on projects that will use sites that have been shuttered for 15 to 20 years. PSE&G has already built more than seven megawatts of solar projects on land previously used as coal-gasification plants.
New Jersey state senator Steven Sweeney (D) said, “Building solar farms on New Jersey landfills is a great way to invest in our state... These projects create jobs in clean energy, which is a growing sector, and reduce carbon emissions, which protects the environment and the public’s health.”
Meanwhile, seven energy farms are competing for the opportunity to install a solar project in Pittsfield, MA. The project is being positioned as a way for the city to save on electricity bills. The city plans to lease a number of acres to the the winning bid, and Pittsfield would then buy the electricity generated on the site from the utility company.
