Photovoltaics as well as photovoltaic farms keep enjoying unflagging and even growing popularity for several years. However, have you heard of any use of photovoltaics in conjunction with garbage? We assume you haven’t but such use exists as an opportunity for landfills and their second life.
It has already been applied in many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Poland, and has been well accepted. Depending on the country, the reasons and sites vary but any reason to invest in clean energy is good. The most common use is of so-called “brownfields,” which are environmentally hazardous sites that have no promising future. This is because the surface on this type of site as well as what lies beneath it, is heavily contaminated and physically unstable. Photovoltaic farms are therefore a lifesaver for such. As many as 21 such projects have been built in the United States and they have produced as much as 207 megawatts (as of 2021).
Another aspect for which farms are being built on landfills is the fact that in many countries there is no permission to build on these kinds of sites even for several decades after closure! This is how the situation in Poland looks like. As an example a photovoltaic farm can be really a “second life” for such a site.
You are probably wondering what happens to the electricity produced at these farms? Well, most often it is collected by municipalities, so their residents pay up to 80% less for energy.
A photovoltaic farm always brings only advantages because the electricity is produced from renewable sources of energy. It’s not only about saving money but above all, about caring for the future of our planet and accelerating the energy transition which is extremely important now.
