14 DAY TRIAL // NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that, in the months to come, part of Freshkills Park on Staten Island is to undergo an extreme green makeover and be turned into a huge solar plant.
Interestingly enough, the site chosen for the construction of the solar plant used to be the world's largest landfill.
Information shared with the public says that, when completed, the green energy installation will span over an area of about 47 acres.
Mayor Bloomberg details that it will be made up of 35,000 high-efficiency solar panels, and that it will have an energy generating capacity of 10 megawatts.
This means that its output will be enough to meet the energy demands of 2,000 homes, and that the city's current green energy capacity will up by as much as 50%.
Needless to say, the increase in NYC's dependence on green energy will also yield noteworthy benefits in terms of curbing emissions.
“Freshkills was once the site of the largest landfill in the world. Soon it will be one of the City’s largest parks, and the site of the largest solar power installation ever developed within the five boroughs,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.
“This unprecedented solar project will be the largest in New York City and will help us understand how renewables can integrate into our energy networks at a much greater scale, and sends a signal to the market place that renewable energy is both achievable within the city, and that it will continue to grow and become a major component of New York City’s energy supply,” added Sergej Mahnovski, director of the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability.
The company in charge of designing, installing and operating the planned solar power plant on Staten Island is SunEdison. The company was chosen to implement this project following a public bidding process.
For the time being, information concerning the costs of this project and when the plant is expected to go online has not been made available to the public.