Retired cells on the R-Board Regional Landfill on Eskimo Road in Stafford County may quickly be coated in photo voltaic panels, if a three way partnership between Stafford County and the City of Frederickburg strikes ahead (Courtesy photograph on R-Board)
After touring the R-Board Regional Landfill for the primary time two years in the past, Monica Gary could not shake the concept the location had a wasteful potential.
Landfills, Gary defined, should not monolithic wastelands; as an alternative, it’s divided into cells which can be retired as soon as they attain a sure size or waste capability.
In specific, the land above these retired cells sparked Gary’s creativeness as he sat down for a post-visit espresso with former Stafford County Administrator Randy Vosburg.
In this case, the proverbial mild bulb in his head is powered by photo voltaic vitality.
“I stated, ‘Hey, I actually suppose we should always put photo voltaic on expired landfill cells,'” recalled Gary, a member of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors and R-Board chair. “We’re not doing something with the land, so it is actually untapped potential for renewable vitality.”
Gary’s imaginative and prescient will quickly be realized at two websites as a three way partnership between Stafford County and the City of Fredericksburg.
In addition to 40 acres value of retired cells at Eskimo Hill, the venture consists of roughly 96 acres south of Stafford often called the previous Cool Springs Road landfill.
The website, which stopped accepting waste in 1988 and closed completely in 1994, is owned by the town of Fredericksburg. In a City Council work session on May 14, metropolis supervisor Tim Baroody stated the 2 jurisdictions have been in discussions on the venture for greater than a yr.
“This is a superb instance of regional collaboration and that we will work collectively to get issues achieved,” Gary stated. “That’s why I’m so pleased with that.”
R-Board Director Phil Hathcock stated he expects requests for proposals (RFP) for the venture to exit within the subsequent two months. RFPs exit in roughly 60 days, and a contract will be awarded inside a yr.
“The RFP is written such that the respondent will lease land from the town and county to construct and function the photo voltaic farm,” Hathcock wrote in an e mail.
After the cells — or, within the case of Cool Springs, a whole landfill — are retired, Virginia Department of Environmental Protection laws require monitoring the websites for methane emissions, a course of managed regionally by a renewable vitality firm known as Amaresco, Gary stated.
Opportunities to develop former landfills are restricted, on account of underground “caps” that restrict disturbance. At the May 14 work session, assistant metropolis supervisor David Brown stated any photo voltaic venture would come with an “exploratory investigation” to find out how far into the bottom drilling can happen earlier than the cap is reached. .
Gary stated different communities have used related areas for open-air parks, or, if the local weather is appropriate, ski slopes. A distinguished instance of landfill repurposing is Mt. Trashmore in Virginia Beach, which opened in 1974 and spans 165 acres.
“I imply, it is completely different,” stated Gary. “People are extra artistic.”
Exactly what electrical energy use is made by photo voltaic farms will probably be topic to negotiation between the landowner(s) and any developer who takes on the venture. Fredericksburg and Stafford collectively personal the R-Board website, whereas the town owns the retired Cool Springs website.
Any lease agreements should be accredited by the Stafford Board of Supervisors and Fredericksburg City Council.
One choice, in keeping with Baroody, is to promote the generated energy again to Dominion Energy.
Councilman Jon Gerlach (Ward 2) requested if the town may use the photo voltaic venture to capitalize on its said objective of working municipal operations with 100% clear vitality by 2035.
“I consider there may be potential for that,” Baroody replied. “I feel you should use the vitality from this to facilitate purchases outdoors the area… We suppose there may be some synergy right here.”