Sustainability and Energy Action Plan

APPENDIX XI: FOOTHILL LANDFILL SOLAR CALCULATIONS GRANTS PASS SUSTAINABILITY AND ENERGY ACTION PLAN FOOTHILL LANDFILL SOLAR CALCULATIONS The City of Grants Pass owns two former landfill sites which provide an opportunity for development of two solar power stations. The oldest of the two is the former Foothill site, at 3284 Foothill Boulevard, consisting of three tax lots totaling 15.97 acres. (See tax lots 200, 201, 202 on the map below). There are currently no monitoring requirements for any potential environmental contaminants at this site. However, the property cannot be developed for residential or commercial use, and the City must retain ownership in perpetuity. The property adjoins BLM land to the north, which has a Pacific Power easement, running west/east for a high voltage transmission line. There are also power lines along Foothill Boulevard, at the south end of the property. There is a substation less than 1/2 mile away from the property, a key consideration for suitability as a site for a Solar Power Station. Recently Pacific Power conducted a preliminary analysis of both the Foothill site and the Merlin Landfill site and reported the following: As a rule of thumb, 5 acres are required to produce 1 MW of electricity from a solar photovoltaic array, assuming that every kilowatt of solar electricity production will require about 100 square feet of space. At 15.97 acres, the potential at the Foothill site is 3.5 MW. Thus the full load limit, as determined by Pacific Power, of 2.6 MW for the nearby substation could be realized. 160