BRATTLEBORO — The Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) to construct a new solar energy facility at the district's former landfill.
The WSWMD, composed of 19 local communities in rural southeastern Vermont, owns the closed, 30-acre landfill on Old Ferry Road. The landfill operated from 1982 to 1995, and has a methane recovery system to generate electricity.
In April 2014, Gov. Peter Shumlin signed legislation that will allow WSWMD to develop up to a 5-megawatt solar energy facility on the site.
This pilot project is being developed as a group net metering facility: one of the first of its kind in the country.
“We will be offering the solar electricity to our member towns first, and if there is excess, to area businesses,” said WSWMD Executive Director Bob Spencer in a news release.
The WSWMD is working with Hull & Associates, Inc. from Dublin, Ohio, to identify a solar developer for the project.
The district will consider proposals from national, regional, and local solar energy facility development entities with the funding capacity, knowledge, and experience to develop a solar energy facility on a closed landfill.