Solar Power Modules Arrive For Hauppauge Landfill

Hauppauge’s Blydenburgh landfill is becoming an example of how unconventional thinking can turn polluted land into a valuable resource, as work gets underway to convert it to a solar power field.

The modular components for the  arrived Friday morning. Pat Shortell, a project manager for Eldor Electronics, said the installation will take place over the next 10 weeks turning the landfill site into a green, renewable energy resource.

“It’s something that the local municipalities should be looking at,” Shortell said. “There are some projects going in that are being done on virgin land, land that is not polluted and available for other needs.” 

The project manager said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is encouraging local governments to build renewable energy projects on existing brownfields. Landfills are open space with little to no shade, making them ideal solar panel sites, Shortell said.   

Eldor’s on-site manager began basic excavation in the northwest corner of the landfill Friday to pour concrete foot supports. These will anchor the individual solar panel modules without disrupting the plastic membrane that caps the landfill. 

Once the concrete footings are finished, more supports will be installed to hold roughly 200 solar panels in smaller arrangements of 32 to 40 each, Shortell said. Spacing the solar panels too closely together would result in some being shaded.

When completed, Blydenburgh Landfill’s system will have a 50-kilowatt capacity that can produce 65,000 kilowatt hours of power each year. Islip Town officials said it will be enough to supply the sites's electricity and sell back to the excess to Long Island Power Authority.

The project is one of several recent large solar projects on Long Island due to the ground installation model’s cost effectiveness. Shortell said Eldor installed a 90-kilowatt system at Calverton cemetery, and expects to install a field at Brookhaven National Labs in the future.