Garbage in, energy out.
At least, that’s what Mayor Bloomberg is hoping with a plan being unveiled today to cover 250 of the city’s 3,000 acres of shuttered landfills with solar panels capable of powering as many as 50,000 homes.
“The time when solar is most productive here also coincides with the time when the peak load is really needed — the hot days of summer,” pointed out David Bragdon, the mayor’s director of sustainability.
City officials are looking to attract a private operator who would build and operate the solar plant under a leasing arrangement.
“The cost is not a cost to the city,” Bragdon explained. “It is not a taxpayer-funded project.”
Other municipalities across the country have already discovered that landfills make ideal locations for solar farms.
The town of Islip, LI, last month broke ground for a solar facility on its closed trash heap.
“Every time I drive past JFK on the Belt [Parkway], I’ve always wondered why they didn’t start doing that [in New York City],” said Islip Councilman John Edwards, referring to the landfill along the Belt.
“I think it’s terrific,” he said of the city’s entry into the field. “There’s not much better passive use for landfills than solar panels. Usually these sites are elevated, they’re not in shady areas and not near any residential areas.”
He estimated it would take less than 10 years to recoup construction costs.
“After that, it’s all gravy,” Edwards said.
Bragdon said that although informal feedback from the industry has been positive, it’s too early to say when the city’s project might get off the ground.
The solar plan is something of a sore point for Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, who’s been trying unsuccessfully for years to get the administration behind his plan to erect six windmills on the Fresh Kills landfill to generate 30 megawatts of electricity. The solar farm would produce up to 50 megawatts.
“It is so frustrating to me,” Molinaro said. “The people who should be on my side pushing this are preventing it. I think the mayor is not getting the right information.”
At 2,200 acres, Fresh Kills is by far the city’s largest landfill. Sections are now being transformed into parkland, while methane gas is being extracted from other parts to produce energy.
The solar plan is one of several new initiatives Bloomberg is expected to release today when he updates PlaNYC, the environmental blueprint he issued in 2007.
Officials said the mayor’s announcement would also include a “major air quality” initiative and a “major social networking” proposal tied to the environment.
Also on the drawing board is a new Energy Efficiency Corporation that would provide loans to building owners for energy-efficiency projects, which tend to have high up-front costs.
Officials said $40 million in funding would come from the federal government.