Massachusetts to build 3.9 MW solar farm on former landfill site

Share

Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO) has commenced construction on a new solar plant in the U.S. city of Springfield, Massachusetts, on the site of a former landfill facility.

The area was previously used to bury garbage from the surrounding neighborhood but had lain dormant and unused since the 1970s, when the landfill reached its capacity. The area has since been covered and ventilated, and is now set to host a solar energy plant, due to come online in April next year.

"You’re displacing a dirtier, much more environmentally unfriendly fuel source and replacing it wth energy efficiencies and renewable energy," said Massachusetts' secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Rick Sullivan.

The 3.9 MW PV plant will comprise almost 13,000 solar panels once complete, generating enough renewable energy to power 600 local homes annually. This installation will bring WMECO’s total solar PV capacity to 8 MW.

"As the industry matures and more research and development is done," said WMECO president Craig Hallstrom, "the equipment becomes cheaper and construction of the panels becomes cheaper so the output is better. It is the natural evolution of the industry."

The Mayor of Springfield, Domenic Sarno, welcomed the installation, remarking that it signalled the city’s growing appetite for, and acceptance of, renewable energy, and called for more installations of this type.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Popular content

Hithium unveiles 6.25 MWh BESS, sodium-ion battery cell, installation-free home microgrid

13 December 2024 A trifecta of cutting-edge products debuted at Hithium’s second Eco Day event held in Beijing on Thursday.

Share

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.