A new solar array in Hartford is the first solar-energy project to be built atop a closed landfill in the state. At peak capacity, it's expected to power about 1,000 homes per day.
The array is on top of an old landfill in Hartford's north end, which received raw waste until the late 1980s. If you're driving on Interstate 91 today, you can still see the old landfill, but it doesn't look like a mountain of trash. The roughly ten million tons of waste is capped with a synthetic membrane that keeps out rainwater and looks like grass.
The site is managed by the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority, formally known as CRRA, a group that came under scrutiny last year for inflated salaries. That criticism lead to a radical overhaul of the agency, including staff reductions and new targets for recycling rates.
"This is what I like to stress as the 'Materials Innovation' part of MIRA," said Rob Klee, commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. "[It's] generating clean power for the use of the city, and to the benefit of its residents."
Ken Beiser is with Tecta Solar, which won the $3.6 million contract to build and install the solar array last summer. He said upkeep for the site should be very low. "The entire landfill is capped," he said. "We don't have seagulls to worry about as a result. One of the problems with landfill projects that are still open is birds tend to drop garbage on solar panels or roadways to break them open, as you would a clamshell."
Beiser said rain should keep the panels clean and added that the astroturf will cut down on surface maintenance. MIRA officials said the entire project, including capping the old dump, cost $30 million.
