BRISTOL, RI — Bristol, in partnership with NuGen Capital and Toray Plastics, celebrated the opening of a 20,000-panel solar array at the former landfill on Minturn Farm Road with a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday.
With the launch of the array, the site became the largest capped solar landfill in Rhode Island, according to town officials. The 6.875-mega watt solar site sits on more than 90 acres of the former Bristol landfill and consists of 20,692 solar panels.
Town officials said the project has an estimated production capacity of approximately 8.7 million kilowatt hours (kWh). This is enough to power more than 700 homes and the equivalent of 9 million miles driven by gasoline-powered vehicles.
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Town officials said Toray Plastics, a subsidiary of the multinational Toray Group, will purchase 100 percent of the energy generated from the site.
“The Toray team is thrilled to be a part of the Bristol landfill solar project, which marks a significant milestone for Rhode Island’s and Toray’s sustainability goals,” CEO Christopher Roy said.
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NuGen Capital, a Rhode Island-based company, has over a decade of experience in the rapidly growing renewable energy sector, with a particular emphasis on solar energy, town officials. The company’s leadership said it is committed to supporting the project.
“All of us at NuGen are incredibly excited to see years of hard work and collaboration lead to the successful completion of a needed and important solar project for the state of Rhode Island,” CEO David Milner said.
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Under the lease agreement, Bristol will receive $110,000 a year from the project over the next 25 years. The town will also receive $15,000 annual as payments in lieu of taxes for a period of 30 years.
“To see this project come to fruition is another illustration of finding innovative ways to optimize the use of Bristol’s resources,” Town Administrator Steve Contente said. “This otherwise unusable land is now a generator for green energy and provides additional revenues for the town of Bristol that help ease the tax burden to our residents.”
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