Solar Built on Trash Offers Solution to Renewable Energy’s Space Problem

On a vast expanse of land behind a commuter town just east of London, 108,000 newly installed solar panels glint in the sun, soaking up energy that will soon be transported through cables to the UK capital.

Ordinarily the site, which is bigger than 28 football fields, would have been attractive to developers looking to build houses, which are in short supply in this part of the country. But the land parcel near South Ockendon, a half-hour train ride from central London, has lain barren for the past 25 years. Dig a few feet into the ground and you’ll find out why: The site sits atop a 5 million ton trash heap that threatens to spew out poisonous methane if its seal is damaged.

Set to be one of the biggest solar parks in the UK when it comes on line by next month, the project, will help solve a space dilemma often faced by clean energy providers tasked with supplying power to big cities. Although population density increases demand for cheaper and cleaner forms of electricity, it also creates a shortage of available land.

“You can’t do a lot with a closed landfill, there aren’t too many competing reuse options for it,” said Matthew Popkin, who works on a project to encourage renewables development on brownfield sites at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based think tank. “And unfortunately, but understandably, there is a landfill of some kind in most communities across the world because of the trash we have generated.”