Mayor Announces Installation of Solar Panel Farm Over New Haven Landfill

NEW HAVEN, CT — From atop the city dump Wednesday morning, Mayor Justin Elicker announced the city will install a solar panel farm on the site to repurpose otherwise unusable land. The planned solar farm would generate renewable energy for homes and businesses.

"With this project, over one megawatt of solar panels will be installed, producing over 1.4 million kilowatt-hours of power every year that will go directly to the United Illuminating grid and be distributed locally to homes and businesses," the Mayor's office said. "That's over 1,900 solar panels. The energy produced will be enough to power over 200 homes’ electricity use for one year, equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions avoided by recycling over 81,000 trash bags of waste rather than landfilling them, or the carbon sequestered by nearly 16,000 tree seedings grown for ten years."

Solar developer Greenskies Clean Energy will lease the land from the City, generating over $1.4 million in new revenue for New Haven over the 20-year lease term.

"This announcement marks the latest in the City’s ongoing climate and sustainability efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, including through the electrification of municipal buildings and its vehicle fleet and by encouraging increased adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements among residents, homeowners and businesses," per the Mayor's office.

Elicker said city facilities currently host three megawatts of solar energy, with another 2.5 megawatts in development. Construction of the solar farm is expected to take six to eight months.