With approximately 10,000 closed or soon to be reaching capacity landfills in the United States, what to do with the space is a question on the minds of many waste management industry leaders. The EPA’s RE-Powering America’s Land initiative encourages renewable energy development on current and formerly contaminated lands. As a result, solar on landfills is booming in popularity as it presents a unique opportunity for the waste management industry, landfill owners, and the communities they serve by preserving valuable rural land for agriculture or development and repurposing unusable landfill space to generate clean energy, cheaper electricity, job opportunities, and income. However, when working with landfills, there are many things that have to be taken into consideration. To address the specific needs of landfill owners, Hallaton Environmental Linings is announcing a partnership with Core Development Group to identify more opportunities to bring landfill-to-solar projects to life.
Modern landfills are highly engineered, regulated, and tightly monitored operations with ongoing maintenance requirements and costs, whether they are still receiving waste or have been capped and closed for years. Although repurposing idle landfill space for the creation of renewable energy seems like a perfect solution, installing a solar platform on a closed landfill requires a detailed understanding of landfill containment systems to protect the integrity of the landfill cap during the installation process.
As a 28-year veteran of the geosynthetics industry, Hallaton Environmental Linings has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to landfill structure and waste containment, with more than 4,200 liner installation projects completed nationwide and abroad. With Core Development Group’s national experience installing commercial, government, and utility-scale solar projects (including landfills), the two companies are well-equipped to help interested landfill owners navigate the various stages of solar development, including site assessment, lease agreements, project planning, engineering, Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), construction management services, program operations, and ongoing maintenance.
If you’re interested in learning more about solar on landfill opportunities in your state, you can get it here.
