JOHNSTON – Rhode Island added another notch on its list of solar energy farms recently when officials celebrated the opening of the 9,400-solar panel array at the site of the former A Street landfill in Johnston.
The facility will generate power for Johnston and Providence.
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Mayor Joseph Polisena, Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza and others joined Southern Sky Renewable Energy RI, developer of the A Street project, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the 32-acre former private landfill, which closed more than 25 years ago. The array can produce up to 3.9 megawatts of electricity, the Rhode Island-based company said.
Meanwhile, Southern Sky is developing another solar array – the Gold Meadow Farms project on Lippitt Avenue in Cranston. That array will cover 56 acres and involve more than 58,000 solar panels able to generate 21 megawatts of electricity. Scheduled for completion next year, the Gold Meadow project will help offset Providence’s municipal energy needs, the company said.
In addition, state and local officials joined Southern Sky in October to celebrate the company’s 2.6-megawatt solar array on Smithfield Road in North Providence. That also is a former landfill site, which is to provide energy for North Providence, the company said.
Also in October, Southern Sky celebrated the start of power production at its Warwick solar array. The 16,000-panel array off Kilvert Street is at a 37-acre brownfield site that once was home to Leviton Manufacturing Co. The 6.3-megawatt array is to power Warwick’s municipal buildings and other city locations, Southern Sky said.
Regarding the A Street solar array in Johnston, Polisena said, “The town of Johnston is putting vacant, unusable land back to work to benefit our taxpayers with electricity savings, enhanced tax payments and scholarships for our senior high school students.”
Elorza added, “This project is an important part of our strategy to become a carbon-neutral city by 2050.”
Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Blake@PBN.com.
