Excerpt from Savannah Morning News, February 15, 2019. Read full story here.
Four thousand solar panels face south at the site of an old city landfill on East President Street, poised to produce energy.
The new solar farm sits atop the Deptford Landfill, disused for more than 50 years, at the entrance to Dulany Industries’ new multi-use industrial complex called SeaPoint. Georgia Power personnel were readying the solar panels’ connections to the grid Thursday.
With landfill debris underground and heavy scrub growing over it, the five acres required expensive preparation, including a blanket of enough clean soil to fill about four Olympic-sized swimming pools, said Philip Rowland, the vice president of operations for Dulany Industries. Solar farms are rare in urban areas.
“It’s a huge challenge to see something like this happening in or near Savannah,” Rowland said. “Land is just too high [priced]. You won’t see it.”
He credited the city of Savannah, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, former site owner Greenfield Environment Trust, plus contractors including Terracon and Triplett Land Clearing for assistance with the project, which took more than seven years to come to fruition. When up and running in a month or two, the solar farm’s 1.2 megawatt capacity will be enough to power about 240 homes.