By Dave Beers

In 1995, the town landfill was full, and a request to the state for a landfill expansion was denied owing to concerns over groundwater contamination. The following year, the transfer station as we know it today was built. Many still endearingly still refer to it as ‘The Dump.” Twenty-five years later, the landfill fields are on track to be covered by solar panels.

Originally, the town applied to the state’s virtual net metering program. Unfortunately, this program was not expanded this past session by the state legislature. The town and its likely solar lessee then applied to the Connecticut DEEP’s (Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) Shared Clean Energy Facility program (SCEF) under the guidance of the town Energy Advisory Committee and energy consultant Kirt Mayland, of Reservoir Road Holdings, LLC.  The solar project was recently accepted into SCEF. Norfolk is very fortunate to be one of only a handful of applicants to get accepted into this program

The town put this project out to competitive bid. Lodestar Energy from Avon, Conn., won the bid to lease the landfill area for the solar panels. The SCEF program will ensure that Lodestar will be paid 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour by Eversource. Lodestar will construct and own the panels. The town will still own the land under the panels and will collect a rental payment for the occupied acreage. Although the terms of the lease are currently in negotiation, the town expects to receive between $25,000 and $40,000 per year, which is based on  the amount of town land leased for solar panel coverage. More panels mean more revenue. The town will also gain some property tax revenue from the value of the solar infrastructure.

A 3-megawatt solar field will cover roughly 17 acres of the landfill fields. The town has approval to produce up to a 4-megawatt solar field. Four megawatts produce 25 percent more energy and associated revenue. For this reason, the town is currently investigating how to expand the solar panel coverage to maximize lease revenue. The 149-acre site has plenty of additional land, with much of that land being considered by the state as part of a medium core forest block having 250-500 acres of connected forest. Core forests are large tracts of unbroken forest that provide a much more stable home for plant and animal species, thereby protecting biodiversity. Lodestar and the town will be working with DEEP to determine where any additional solar panels outside the landfill fields can be installed while keeping the integrity of the core forest.

Regular (single-phase) power distribution lines cannot handle the additional electron flow of power production of this size. The current powerline on Route 44 will need to be upgraded for just over 10,00 feet of distance heading east until it reaches the recently upgraded line on Rock Hall Road serving the wind turbines in Colebrook. The fact that the wind turbines forced a line upgrade very close to the landfill makes the town solar project economically viable. In addition, the town applied for and received a 4-megawatt powerline interconnection agreement from Eversource about a year ago. This agreement put Norfolk at the front of the line for new power generation projects in the Canton substation grid. The foresight to reach this agreement early gave this project priority over other proposed power generation facilities.

Also, as part of the SCEF program, this project will enable local low-income households to receive a reduced monthly power bill in return for agreeing to purchase landfill solar power on their electric bills. 

Once the details of the lease contract are hammered out with Lodestar, the lease must be approved by the town. The engineering plans will be drawn up and sent to the Connecticut Siting Council for review. Mayland hopes to see site construction beginning as early as the summer of 2022.