Company ready to draw up concrete plan based on survey and study results to install solar panels on 44,750 sq. meter landfills with enough room to generate 3.3 Mw of electricity annually
A view of the landfill site where solar panels capable of generating 230 Mw of power may be installed. (Photo: SLC)
The Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corp. (SLC) has been looking at a project to install solar panels on some of the empty lots of landfill sites under its management.
The company said on Oct. 2 it has ordered a survey of the landfill sites to find out how much empty lots are available to install photovoltaic panels, and also to study if the project would work.
SLC has been studying a plan to allow the construction of a gold courses, swimming pools, parking lots, horse riding tracks, and building roofs on those horse tracks and the lots where the solar panels are to be installed are as large as 44,750 square meters in total to install solar panels to generate 3.3 Mw of electricity.
SLC will set out to draw up a concrete plan for the project following the completion of the survey and the basic design and take the steps to clinch an official approval for the project.
The company also plans to allow private investors to fund part of the fund needed for the project so that it will be able to give the profits from the investment back to the private investors and help also the families notable meet their energy bills.
Australia¡¯s enthusiastic embrace of rooftop solar units has brought clear environmental and economic benefits, but critics say governments have dragged their feet in addressing the looming waste crisis.
As of December more than 2 million Australian households had rooftop solar panels installed.
The uptake continues to grow due to the technology¡¯s falling cost and rising electricity bills. Photovoltaic panels last about 30 years, and those installed at the turn of the millennium are nearing the end of their lives. Many have already been retired due to faults or damage during transport and installation.
The South Korean government is revamping some of the landfill sites in Seoul and the surrounding area as renewable energy power plants.
The Ministry of Environment and the Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corporation (SLC) announced plans recently to expand its renewable energy generation capacity in the capital and surrounding area by building solar energy power plants on landfill sites alongside existing biomass and landfill gas power plants.
The SLC is set to build a solar energy power plant with an energy generation capacity of 250 megawatts on two landfill sites that are awaiting completion, through three phases.
When the construction project for the proposed solar energy power plant is completed in 2021, it will produce electricity for around 80,000 households, according to the SLC.
Seo Joo-won, the head of the organization, said, ¡°We considered developing a theme park with a shopping mall too, but in respect for the representation of the area, we decided to consider the environment and build a solar energy power plant.¡±
The SLC is currently using the gas that is produced during the waste disposal process to replace other sources of energy that are deemed harmful to the environment, such as fossil fuels.
The SLC is reportedly making an annual profit of 8.4 billion won by replacing fossil fuel with methane gas generated during the process of food waste disposal.
The SLC¡¯s biogas facility is also saving the organization money by replacing LNG fuel with the methane gas produced during the disposal process of food wastewater, which is being used for heating and the operation of power plants, while supplying fuel for around 200 city buses and street cleaning vehicles every day.
According to the SLC, the organization is poised to raise the generation of waste-to-energy from 23 percent to 86 percent by 2021.
Landfill sites in Seoul and the surrounding area are playing a leading role in energy recycling with the help of facility expansion. We believe the new solar energy power plant project will revamp landfill sites in the Seoul Capital Area into a mecca for renewable energy,¡± said Kim Dong-jin, an official at the environment ministry.