An Old Rochester Landfill May Get New Life as a Solar Energy Farm

The landfill on Emerson Street has sat vacant for 43 years. The site has been rendered useless and toxic, but a 230 acre portion of the landfill is in for an exciting change.

Anne Spaulding, Rochester’s energy and sustainability manager, said “The parcel was recently delisted from the New York inactive waste site, so we were able to offer it to developers”. Time Warner Cable News reports that the city is receiving proposals on what to do with the land.

Developers set their focus on solar energy. Out of nine proposals submitted, Spaulding declared that Solar Liberty was the chosen company.

The proposal must now pass approval from the Rochester City Council. If the project gets the green light, the Buffalo-based company will create, operate and maintain a solar energy farm.

Correspondents at TWC News asked Solar Liberty’s Vice President, Nathan Rizzo, to explain how they plan to operate the solar plant.

“We are looking to install a solar photovoltaic system,” Rizzo said. The solar farm plans to contain over 7,000 panels that will be ballasted to the ground.

“Ballasted meaning it will sit on top of the landfill, so it won’t penetrate the ground,” Rizzo explained. “It will be weighted down by concrete.”

Rizzo said the solar farm will create enough energy to power 300 homes annually. For homeowners who are concerned with saving energy costs, it may take some time before the energy from the solar farm reaches residential homes, however.

The city of Rochester has created a power purchase agreement with Solar Liberty. The city will buy this electricity and use it to power a handful of municipal buildings. Rochester will then receive a credit from RG and E on those utility bills.

If homes are interested in energy-saving home renovations, they can make changes like ventilating their attic, which can reduce energy costs by 10 to 12% as they wait for the solar farm to get up and running. The savings from solar energy is estimated to be $2 million over the next 25 years.

If the proposal is approved, the site plans to generate power by the end of 2016.