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Here's Why: Grand Rapids Wants A Solar Landfill

What used to be a scar on the environment now has a chance to bring green energy to Grand Rapids. Meteorologist Michael Behrens explains why.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It's not very common to think of a landfill as being environmentally friendly, and that certainly used to be the case for the Butterworth Landfill site here in the city of Grand Rapids. 

However, since being closed in the 70s and remediated as a superfund site in the year 2000, Butterworth has sat largely empty and devoid of use. 

The remediation process left behind a four-foot clay cap that limits what can and cannot be built on top of the former dump site. 

However, that limitation now could be an opportunity for green energy in the City of Grand Rapids. Here's why!

The Situation:

A former landfill in Grand Rapids is going green.

The Why:

It's actually the toxic past of this site that will make it the perfect location to have a green future.

According to Alison Waskesutter, a Sustainability and Strategy Officer with the City of Grand Rapids, the cap that's in place over the former landfill following remediation means very few things can be built on top of the former dump. 

"Due to the restrictions that are in place, there's a four-foot clfour-footat's in place, and we cannot in any way or any developer penetrate that cap," Waskesutter said. "So that basically means that you can't have light poles, you can't have restrooms, you couldn't put a building there, and so it really limits what can be done there."

Credit: Michael Behrens
Overview from the WZZM 13 drone of the Butterworth Landfill Site.

This means outside of leaving the space empty or turning it into a parking lot, little can be done. That was until the idea of adding solar was brought up. 

Adding solar to this location would help to bring the city closer to its goal of being completely powered by renewable energy, along with giving this former toxic site the ability to contribute back to our society into the future.

The city is currently taking requests for information and qualifications on the project, a process that will run through December 29th. 

"We're looking for innovative, creative ideas to consider for constructing solar at the site," Waskesutter said. "We have issued a request for information along with a request for qualifications, where we're asking some bigger picture questions, so that folks out in the community have the opportunity to present to us some creative ideas that they may have for development."

She said they would take those ideas into consideration to then ultimately develop that request for proposal that would come out anticipated sometime in early 2024.

If everything goes as planned, the city is hoping to have the site operation sometime in 2026. 

-- Meteorologist Michael Behrens

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