Cleveland plans to develop two closed landfill sites as solar projects, including one intended to supply power for Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The City of Cleveland and Cleveland Public Power announced plans Monday for installations at the Kolthoff Drive and Bradbury landfills.
The Kolthoff Drive landfill is near the I-X Center, south of the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport runways, according to Cleveland 19 News. The proposed solar farm is expected to generate 5 to 7 megawatts for airport operations.
A Second Site Feeding the City Grid
The Bradbury landfill, near W. 11th Street and Spring Road, is slated for a 2-megawatt solar installation. Unlike the Kolthoff Drive project, its power would go to the Cleveland Public Power grid, with the goal of helping offset costs for utility customers, the report says.
The two projects are estimated to cost about $20 million. Cleveland 19 reports that the city plans to use a portion of the $129 million Cleveland previously received from the EPA to improve its renewable-energy supplies.
Turning Waste Ground Into Watts
The projects would put two closed landfill sites to use for solar generation, with one installation serving a specific institution and the other feeding the municipal grid. Redeveloping these sites also comes with constraints: landfill infrastructure must be considered when planning an installation.
Landfill solar: the broader context
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says its RE-Powering Mapper has pre-screened more than 190,000 contaminated lands, landfills and mine sites for renewable-energy potential. That figure is a screening count, not a tally of completed projects or their generating capacity. Ohio has an earlier landfill-solar example: Cuyahoga County says it installed a 4-megawatt solar farm on a closed and capped landfill in Brooklyn in 2018. Cuyahoga County describes it as Ohio’s first such project. Ohio EPA guidance says redevelopment requires long-term planning and that solar installations must not damage or impede the landfill cap.
Cleveland 19’s report did not specify construction or completion dates, developers, acreage or expected annual output. The plans would add two more sites to Ohio’s examples of solar development on closed landfills.
