OPINION: Using landfills for solar farms is a smart, sustainable strategy

Veolia’s transformation of a former landfill in Essex into a solar farm is the very definition of making the best of a bad situation.

To go from land that’s not fit for much into the UK’s third largest solar farm (and the biggest in Europe to be built on top of a closed landfill) is more than just a pioneering clean energy project.

By showing what can be done with historically mismanaged land, the waste management firm is leading the way in combating the environmental impact of landfills.

Veolia has shown the kind of initiative required to get the nation to the levels of sustainability we really should be striving for, and I hope this is the beginning of a much wider movement in the UK.

The problems of building on landfills

Until this historic move, landfills have pretty much been viewed as toxic wastelands taking up precious land that might have otherwise been used for meaningful redevelopment.

Firstly, there’s the smell, that in some cases has been detected from over 1km away. Then there’s the methane gas that’s harmful to both people and the environment. Not to mention the high levels of leachate (toxic liquid created when heavy rainfall meets rotting waste).

There’s no safe way to build property on landfill and you’re not going to be growing wheat and barley there.

MORE: What happens when waste rots in landfill (and what can be done)?

Land is a precious resource, and once it’s consumed by landfills, it’s typically lost for other uses.

Once filled with waste, the land remains a burden for generations to come. They require costly maintenance and monitoring for an extended period, putting pressure on local authorities and taxpayers.

But now, the installation of solar arrays on these sites has presented a compelling solution to a lot of problems.

Instead of wasting fertile agricultural land, the Ockendon solar farm was built on top of 5 million tonnes of landfill. It boasts more than 100,000 solar modules across 173 acres.

According to Veolia, the innovative new farm is capable of generating enough clean electricity to power 15,000 homes.

And as if the project didn’t have enough environmental benefit, wildlife will be able to repopulate the restored land without interfering with the solar technology.

But despite the evident benefits, there are still some major hurdles obstructing a rapid rollout of similar projects throughout the country.

Why aren’t there more landfill solar farms?

Using landfill sites for clean energy generation seems like a no-brainer, but it’s not as easy to get off the ground as you might think.

Firstly, landfills aren’t just a last resort for the nation’s waste. Years of rotting waste produces gas and leachate that can be pumped out and used for energy itself.

Access to manage gas and leachate wells is challenging after capping landfill sites (isolating contaminated land by placing a cover over it) and filling the area with panels.

Pumping gas as a fuel out of landfills can generate as much as 50 megawatts and with these infrastructures in place, installing a new solar system on top of it creates yet another roadblock.

And while the Ockendon solar farm project was a successful conversion, there have been reports of lengthy wait times for connecting renewable energy sources to the National Grid due to a backlog of applications (Ockendon was able to share parts of the grid infrastructure with another nearby solar farm to speed things up).

But these challenges shouldn’t deter us from the immense potential of landfill repurposing and other spaces that can be leveraged for solar installations.

Harnessing solar energy at SunSkips

As part of SunSkips’ commitment to reducing our own carbon footprint and embracing eco-friendly practices, we’re planning to harness solar energy ourselves at our new site in Thetford.

The new SunSkips location, which is set to open its gates in the summer of 2024, comes with plans to install state-of-the-art solar panels on the roofs of the sites’ buildings.

This strategic move aims to significantly decrease our reliance on fossil fuels, marking a crucial step toward cleaner and greener operations.

The new site at the Burrell Way industrial estate specialises in cleaning soil and aggregate so it can be reintroduced back into the circular economy.

As well as the solar installation, we’re proud to play a vital role in diverting construction waste away from landfills.

Our efforts are projected to prevent 100,000 tonnes of construction waste from ending up in unsustainable dumping grounds.

Yet another solution that prevents the negative environmental impact of landfills and generates clean energy at the same time.

MORE: Why care about SunSkips’ pledge to sustainable waste management?

A big step in the right direction

Repurposing landfills for solar energy generation is a beacon of sustainable development.

Not only does it offer an alternative to using land that could sustain crops, but it also addresses the critical need for increased renewable energy capacity to meet our net-zero goals.

Landfill solar farms are also hugely beneficial to local communities, capping the hazardous land and creating several jobs in the area.

The UK could turn hundreds of acres of closed landfill into solar farms, not to mention the currently active landfills that could house solar arrays in the future.

This would go a long way towards the UK government’s goal of increasing the nation’s solar power generation from 14 gigawatts (GW) to 70GW by 2035.

Replicating Veolia’s success at Ockendon, as well as incentivizing private firms to use their own land for solar arrays, might just get us there.

Undoubtedly, the road ahead involves plenty of technical and logistical challenges. But the rewards of reclaiming spaces that were once lost to waste are significant.

SunSkips is excited about the adoption of solar energy and applauds waste management firms like Veolia that are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible at landfill sites.