North Carolina: From Landfills to Energy

Buncombe County is the latest to broadcast its plans to utilize a landfill site for purposes of a solar energy farm.  To lessen the economic impact of such a project, the County says that, although it will make an initial investment of $26,000.00 for engineering and feasibility studies, the plan will be to partner with Duke Energy to illustrate the viability of the project, in hopes of bringing in a private company to be a long-term tenant of the site.  Buncombe County is not the first municipality to use landfill sites for solar farms; similar projects have recently begun in Gaston County and Charlotte.  The 25-acre tract in Woodfin, North Carolina provides Buncombe County not only a large parcel of flat land in an otherwise mountainous area, but also one that has little monetary value due to the trash below the surface.  This otherwise unappealing piece of land, which is located less than 2 miles from an existing power station, has created a unique opportunity to provide Buncombe County with yet another alternate energy initiative.