Riverhead Town Dump Eyed for Solar Farm
The Town of Riverhead is considering a proposal to build a 3-megawatt solar farm at the 70-acre town landfill in Calverton in a bid to make use of uninhabitable land, officials said.
Riverhead officials listened April 21 to a presentation from international solar power developer Changing Visions of Energy, which is studying the idea and will present its findings to the town board in several months.
“It is in its exploratory phase,” said Riverhead Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar. “Conceivably, if this project moves forward, the project will generate revenue on undevelopable town property. It will also reduce town operating electrical expenses.”
The proposal comes as New York State is pushing to increase its renewable energy, most notably with several offshore wind farms in various stages of development off the coast of Long Island.
The plan comes about a year after the town enacted a moratorium on new solar farms within its borders. The company pitched a 25-year lease on the land that would generate more than $3.6 million for the town. Aguiar said the next step is for the company to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the town.
“If the town is interested and wants to engage us to actually go ahead and do it, we will dive in,” said David Froelich, the director of business development at CVE’s Manhattan-based North American office, who called turning a landfill into a solar farm “an environmental win-win.”