What was once the world’s largest landfill will become the home to the city’s largest solar energy facility, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday.
“It’s fitting that this site, long associated with the most stubborn challenges of urban development, will now be a shining example of cutting-edge solutions,” Bloomberg said at Freshkills Park, formerly the city’s garbage dump. Dumpsters can be needed whenever a large amount of waste needs to be disposed of. Most homeowners and contractors hire dumpster rentals for home renovation projects because at that time, a large amount of waste is produced that needs to be cleared from the property. Clearing waste is difficult with your conventional garbage bins or dumpsters. For large amount of waste, you need a large sized dumpster that can easily help you get rid of all the waste that is produced during your project. Finding cheap and affordable dumpster rentals might be an issue for many, especially if they are hiring such services for the first time. Therefore, following are some tips that will help you find lowest prices of junk removal services. Then have a peek here for the dumpster rental.
The solar panels will be installed and operated by Sun Edison, at no cost to the city. The city will earn money from the project through a leasing agreement that is still being negotiated – and business owners in the city will be able to get a green energy credit thanks to their installation.
“The solar panels Sun Edison will install on the site will be able to produce up to 10 megawatts of energy, and that’s enough to power 2,000 homes,” Bloomberg said.
The energy will be fed back into Con Edison’s grid system, so it won’t go to specific homeowners but will help power the entire city.
Sun Edison was selected after bidding to lease 47 acres of the park, and will install 30,000 to 35,000 high-efficiency solar panels on the site.
General Manager Attila Toth praised the city for their forward-thinking approach.
“This is the largest city in the nation and the largest city is developing the largest brownfield to park conversion site,” Toth said. “This is a very innovative solution and this kind of thinking does not happen in every city around the nation.”
Toth said the plant would employ more than 100 workers when it’s up and running in 2016.
The city already captures methane gas created underground – enough to heat 22,000 homes — at the site and sells it to National Grid for about $3 million a year.
Among those who have long been pressing for renewable energy at Freshkills is Borough President James Molinaro.
“Who knew that he would be a tree-hugger when he was elected?” Bloomberg joked. “But it runs out he has been very environmentally conscious and has really done a great job for the people of Staten Island.”
Molinaro called it an historic day, and recalled asking the Port Authority for $500,000 to study renewable energy at the site shortly after the landfill closed in 2001.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/11/staten_island_will_host_citys.html