There is never a dull moment at the Madison County Landfill site on Buyea Road in Lincoln.
A large scale solar array is currently being constructed in the ARE Park on Buyea Road The array consists of 7,752 individual solar panels and is anticipated to produce about 2,890,500 kWh annually. Madison County anticipates
Madison County anticipates annual energy savings of approximately $150,000. The project covers 12 acres in the County ARE Park on the east side of Buyea Road.
This project has been on the drawing board for the past 3.5 years and was developed under a Power Purchase Agreement. The County has agreed to purchase all of the power created by the solar array for the next 25 years.
RER Energy Group (rerenergygroup.com/) and New Energy Equity (newenergyequity.com/) are working together to develop the project for Madison County.
AEP OnSite Partners, LLC, an American Electric Power company, will be the longterm owner of the solar array.
It should be noted that the County does not own the array, nor are they paying anything for its installation. Madison County is simply purchasing the power it produces.
“When we started this project, we anticipated it would cover about 60 percent of the County’s energy needs,” said Scott Ingmire, director of the County Planning Department. “However, due to conservation measures and energy efficiency upgrades overseen by the County maintenance and the Board of Supervisors, we now anticipate it will cover approximately 73 percent of the County campuses energy needs.”
Ingmire explained that since 2010, the county has been tracking the energy consumption and the graph shown here that shows how these conservation measures have resulted in significantly reduced energy use at the County complex. Ingmire anticipate the project will be completed in mid-July and then have to wait for it to be energized and connected to the grid.
The county is asking residents not to visit the array during construction for safety reasons. It is anticipated that an educational kiosk/sign will be installed on site once the project is completed.