“We see these projects as having the potential to play a really big role in contributing to our goals,’’ said Kenneth L. Kimmell, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, who hopes many of the 500 closed landfills in Massachusetts will help the state meet its target of generating 20 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020. “Landfills are attractive places for solar, because there aren’t trees, they generally don’t annoy anyone, and they’re big spaces.’’
Unlike wind power, which requires massive turbines that are often deemed unsightly and noisy by neighbors, the silence and static nature of solar projects mean they generally spark less opposition, especially on landfills .
The 2.2 megawatt project in Easthampton, which will produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of some 600 homes and will save the city about $1 million over the next decade in utility costs, took less than two years from when officials here sought bids from contractors to when they broke ground last month.
But the experience of this small city in the Pioneer Valley shows that even the most innocuous of renewable energy projects can be controversial.
The first hurdle was changing the city’s zoning regulations to allow officials to build on landfills, which are mounds of hazardous waste covered with special synthetic liners and several feet of dirt, drainage pipes, gas vents, and grass.
The City Council approved the zoning changes, but then the neighbors of one of the city’s two closed landfills - the larger one that would have allowed for more power and would have been easier to connect to the grid - said they were opposed to putting solar panels there.
“It was because of the aesthetics,’’ Mayor Michael Tautznik said. “It would have been in their backyards, and they didn’t want to have to see solar panels.’’
After ruling out the preferable site, the city sought bids on the more secluded landfill on Oliver Street, where neighbors, though more muted in their opposition, voiced a host of concerns to local officials and at public meetings over the past few months.
