By Paul Morden, from www.theobserver.ca The Observer
Bluewater Power is investigating whether to build a small solar farm at the old Sarnia landfill site on Blackwell Sideroad.
The utility company already generates electricity from landfill gas collected at the former municipal dump and it approached Lambton County recently about adding a solar farm.
If it goes ahead, an undetermined number of solar panels would “fill up a corner of unused land” at the site, said Jason Cole, the county’s public works manager.
They wouldn’t be placed on the mound that covers the buried waste.
It will be fall before the utility decides if it will pursue the project, said Tim Vanderheide, chief operating officer with Bluewater Power.
If it does, the utility will apply in 2013 for a contract to sell the electricity into the provincial power grid.
“We’re really at the very, very initial, investigative stages right now,” Vanderheide said.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said the proposal is “an excellent use of land that’s not useable.”
A standing committee of county council voted Wednesday to recommend Lambton negotiate an amendment to its existing agreement with Bluewater Power to allow a solar farm. That recommendation goes to council July 4.
Plans are to begin with a 500 kW facility that could expand to 1 MW. A massive 80 MW solar farm already exists across the road from the landfill.
Vanderheide said a 500 kW solar farm will cover three to four acres.
Lambton has received more than $30,000 per year in rent and royalties since Bluewater Power’s landfill gas facility was built in 2007.
A 500 kW solar farm on the site could mean another $5,000 to $6,000 a year for the county, according to a staff report.
Monitoring and other operations at the county’s five closed landfill sites are expected to cost it more than $460,000 this year.
“It would be nice to have some revenue to offset that,” said Jim Kutyba, Lambton’s general manager of infrastructure and development services.
Adding a solar farm will allow Bluewater Power to use excess capacity in the landfill gas project’s power grid connection, officials said. The landfill hasn’t produced as much gas as first anticipated, and the rate is expected to decline even more over the years.
The good news is it appears the gas will be there longer than anticipated, Kutyba said.
While the rate Ontario pays for solar power is expected to drop, so has the cost of solar panels, Vanderheide said.
“It still looks like you can make a 10% rate of return on the investment, which is appropriate for the risk.”
Bluewater Power is also involved in a landfill gas project in Petrolia, and it has a small number of solar panels at its offices on Confederation Street.
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