Hickory Ridge Landfill, in Conley, used to be a colossal heap of garbage emitting harmful gases into the atmosphere. In 2011, however, the closed landfill was converted into a solar farm. Several landfills around Atlanta that have been capped off and closed for years are starting to follow the lead of Hickory Ridge.
The City of Atlanta plans to transform several idle landfills into solar farms that would each produce roughly one megawatt of power, enough to power 200 to 300 homes. The locations include Cascade Road Landfill, Gun Club Landfill, Key Road Landfill and two properties at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Denise Quarles, City of Atlanta director of sustainability, said the city will lease the land to the proponent, New Generation Power, an energy company. Quarles said while the lease has not been finalized, the current terms call for a partnership between the city and the energy company that would last at least 20 years.
“We would receive some value that has not been negotiated yet for the lease on the property and help to create some additional clean energy for here in the city,” Quarles said.
New Generation Power plans to establish, fund and maintain the solar project.
Stephen Elkind, managing partner at Beltline Energy and member of the Georgia Solar Energy Association’s board of directors, believes these solar initiatives will be beneficial.
Elkind said the use of solar projects on landfills will be beneficial because it provides a use for otherwise unusable land.
New Generation Power submitted the proposal to the Georgia Power Advanced Solar Initiative lottery. The lottery awards the winning residential or commercial solar project with the opportunity to sell the harnessed energy back to Georgia Power, giving New Generation Power an opportunity to gain revenue from the project.
Bert Pierce, Georgia Power renewable development lead, said the Georgia Power Advanced Solar Initiative lottery received roughly 1,000 applications. The company conducted the lottery with the use of PowerClerk, an automated lottery system, at the beginning of May, but will not release the names of the winners until all plans are finalized.
Pierce also explained that Georgia has no solar energy requirements for the power company, unlike other states that require energy companies to produce a certain amount of renewable energy.
“[Georgia Power is] working and doing these things voluntarily with the help of the commission and the developers,” Pierce said. “There are other states around the country that have portfolio standards.”
Pierce said Georgia Power is looking to have the largest mix of renewable energy in the country.
“What we’re doing is working to add a more diverse energy mix to our system so it helps us use things other than coal and gas as a possible energy source,” Pierce said. “This project is also helping customers and solar developers in the state with their business purposes.”
Elkind concurs.
“From the environmental standpoint, because solar power is very environmentally friendly, what [Georgia Power is] doing is, it is replacing some of its fossil-fuel sources, such as coal, and now it’s starting to get more sources from sustainable sources,” Elkind said.
Alan Beale, general manager at SolarMax, a solar energy company, and a member of Georgia Solar Energy Association’s board of directors, believes this is only the beginning of Georgia’s solar energy business.
“Georgia basically in the past two years has gone to almost nowhere with solar energy to being a significant player in the United States,” Beale said.
Under Georgia Power requirements, if the City of Atlanta’s landfill solar farm proposal is selected, New Generation Power would need to complete the project within six months of signing on with Georgia Power.
