GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — There are very few ways the old Butterworth landfill in Grand Rapids can be used. Currently, it's an empty grassy field. It could potentially become either a parking lot or solar field due to the cap keeping toxic waste inside the landfill needing to not be disturbed. The city of Grand Rapids is leaning towards solar.
“That’s why it’s been so difficult to develop. Because people have said, 'Oh, make it a soccer field,' but you can’t put anything that would penetrate,” Strategy and Sustainability Officer for the city of Grand Rapids Alison Sutter said.
The city assures FOX 17 that regardless of the future of the landfill space, walking paths will remain in place. In the future, however, the city wants to explore options to use the site for renewable solar energy. Solar panels would be put in place on concrete slabs so no drilling down into the landfill's cap would occur.
The goal is that hopefully, one day, the city's streetlights and traffic signals will be powered by renewable energy, which is on their primary circuit. But because of state and federal regulations, that day is years away. That's why the city is asking developers to come forward with creative solutions.
“There are a lot of solar developers that express interest. But I don’t think as many understand the complexities,” Alison Sutter said.
Sixty acres of the old Butterworth landfill has untapped potential for solar power, but federal law prevents the city from drilling anything beneath the ground, and state law complicates who can use the energy once it's cultivated.
“If you can’t use it in real time, you have to put it in a battery to store it, or you have to put it on Consumers Energy’s grid," Sutter explained.
Here's an example of how that creates a problem: the 60 acres of proposed solar would generate as much as 15 megawatts of electricity. The city wants to run its primary circuit using solar, which uses only about 2 megawatts of electricity. The problem becomes what to do with the leftover energy. Selling it back to the grid is an option, but that usually means a significant financial loss. Consumers pays $0.03 per kilowatt hour, and the city says it would cost at least $0.06 per kilowatt hour to generate the energy.
“Once it goes onto the grid, the rate that they have approved from the Michigan Public Services Commission to pay you for that electricity that essentially is being generated is about $0.03 per kilowatt hour — which isn’t even close to the cost of installing solar,” Sutter said.
The city is asking developers to come forward with their creative ideas through their Request for Information and Request for Qualification process, which was just given the okay to get started on after the city's most recent Committee of the Whole meeting.
Also happening at the same time is the city's application for a "Solar for All" grant through the EPA.
“I am teeing up that application so that installation here at Butterworth Landfill could be a component in which we would be looking to use solar throughout Grand Rapids, to help supply our low-income households and our disadvantaged communities,” Sutter said.
The full presentation on the Butterworth landfill's solar usage can be found here. The solar project is expected to take upwards of two years due to its complexity.
