Description

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in accordance with the RE-Powering America’s Land initiative, selected the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for a feasibility study of installing renewables on several landfills that are targeted for closure under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010). Citizens of Puerto Rico, city planners, and site managers are interested in redevelopment uses for landfills in Puerto Rico, which are particularly well suited for grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) installation. The purpose of this report is to assess the landfills with the highest potential for possible grid-tied solar PV installation and estimate cost, performance, and site impacts of three different PV options: crystalline silicon (fixed tilt), crystalline silicon (single-axis tracking), and thin film (fixed tilt). Each option represents a standalone grid-tied system that can be sized to use an entire available site area. In addition, the report outlines financing options that could assist in the implementation of a system. The feasibility of PV systems installed on landfills is highly impacted by the available area for an array, solar resource, operating status, landfill cap status, distance to transmission lines, and distance to major roads. All of the landfills in Puerto Rico were screened according to these criteria in order to determine the sites with the greatest potential. 12 landfills were chosen for site visits based on the screening criteria and location. One landfill will be dicscussed in detail in this report. The San Juan Landfill was chosen because it is the site with the largest available area for a PV system.

Citation: ASHRAE Conference Papers, Montreal, QC

Product Details

Published:

2011

Number of Pages:

8

File Size:

1 file , 1.3 MB

Product Code(s):

D-ML-11-C047