Small state, but big solar power

Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the U.S., but it's starting to make a big statement insolar power, including a new 6.8 MW project built on a landfill site.

By Diane Mettler

Rhode Island might be the smallest state in the U.S. by geographical size, but they have big ideas when it comes to clean energy.

An example came this past March when Bristol Landfill Solar, Rhode Island’s largest closed landfill solar site, began generating power. The project is estimated to produce enough clean energy to power approximately 700+ homes and businesses, which is the equivalent to offsetting nine million miles driven by gasoline-powered vehicles.

What makes it even more amazing is that the 6.875-MWdc solar site is located on more than 90 acres of the Town of Bristol, Rhode Island’s capped landfill. It’s the culmination of a partnership between the Town of Bristol, NuGen Capital Management, LLC (the project’s developer, owner and operator) and Toray Plastics (America), Inc., and an array of stakeholders across Rhode Island and within the sustainability industry.

The project started back in 2016, when the Town of Bristol released an initial Request for Proposal (RFP). The town envisioned taking advantage of the under-utilized land and repurposing it as a revenue generator and showing their support for sustainability initiatives by seeking a partner to develop solar on the land.

Laura Frazier, Managing Director of Business Development and Strategy for NuGen, was excited about the project from its inception. “At the time, NuGen developed, owned and operated solar projects, but we had never had interest in submitting to RFPs. When this request was released, we noticed this project was located right next door to our headquarters, and we knew we had to win it and help make their vision a reality.”

Frazier led the development and submission of NuGen's first Rhode Island Request for Proposal and the company was awarded the project.

“As we started developing the project, we worked closely with the town to streamline permitting, ensure the Bristol community was kept informed and educated on the project’s impact, and that we developed a site that fully optimized the under-utilized land to make the largest impact possible.

“The town was incredible partnering on permitting, and made sure the neighbors and the community understood the benefit,” says Frazier. “It was a win-win for everybody involved. And we didn't get one concern, which was a huge success.”

Partnerships with projects of this scale make all the difference, she says. Obstacles arise and it’s teamwork that makes things less of a hurdle. For NuGen, the partners throughout this project were in their words “incredible”.

“Everything you think could happen on a landfill, did happen on the landfill,” says Frazier. “But we worked very, very closely with the contractors, engineers, other stakeholders and the town to overcome the obstacles that came up along the way. As we say, no problems, only solutions.”

NuGen was selective when exploring the best fit partner to buy the energy from the project, seeking out a local employer who supports Rhode Island’s workforce on a grand scale. In June 2023, Rhode Island allowed virtual net metering to commercial companies within the state, allowing businesses to take advantage of the benefits of net metering offset and savings.

The site sits atop a 90-acre landfill and has approximately 22,000 panels spread across the space. NuGen Capital Management used a fixed ballast system on the project, through a long-term vendor relationship with GameChange Solar.

“When that opened up, the first thing I said was, ‘Well, this project is perfect testament to who we are, we now have to find the perfect buyer to match it up with, to show Rhode Island what’s possible when you work together.’” That partner turned out to be Toray Plastics, which is the largest commercial energy consumer in Rhode Island.

“We talked to Toray about their goals in Rhode Island and it was really just a great match,” says Frazier. “They’re focused on offsetting their carbon footprint, and with their support of Rhode Island’s workforce, we worked to align with Toray to step into taking 100 percent of the generation on the project.”

But it was the co-ordination between all the parties that was vitally important in the development of this site, explains Frazier.

“We had to make sure all stakeholders were heard,” she says. “The Town of Bristol was excited about the project, but they also wanted to make sure, from a permitting and construction perspective, that we protected the landfill cap and created a project that was developed and constructed with a long-term owners’ mindset. So, making sure that everybody in the town, even the Planning Board, was kept informed along the way was very important.”

NuGen focuses its Rhode Island portfolio on developing projects on under-utilized spaces. “They are more expensive, so it's important to really plan ahead, mitigate those risks, or really know that those costs are going to be there and try to offset them with incentives, creativity, partners with aligned goals and vendor relationships,” says Frazier.

This particular project received a Rhode Island Commerce Brownfield Grant. In addition, NuGen worked hard to incentivize the project as well from an IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) perspective.

“We leveraged all of our skills, experience and relationships to develop and construct a project to be proud of—and one that was financially feasible. We are proud to say that this is the largest landfill solar project to date in Rhode Island. And it was definitely, from beginning to end, a labor of love and an incredible opportunity to show what is possible with collaboration and persistence,” says Frazier.

While the permitting process was close to finished when COVID hit in 2020, the pandemic brought additional challenges. Contractors could not be on site, forcing NuGen to implement virtual solutions to get all the permitting completed.

	The landfill solar project started back in 2016, when the Town of Bristol released an initial Request for Proposals (RFP). The town envisioned taking advantage of the under-utilized land and repurposing it as a revenue generator and showing their support for sustainability initiatives by seeking a partner to develop solar on the land—and NuGen Capital Management responded.

“We also had some major equipment delays because of COVID,” Frazier says. “So, we tried to do what we could to co-ordinate our construction schedule and align our partners so when we were ready, we were confident in our partners and plan.”

Construction officially started in the summer of 2023 and NuGen looked to the community partners. “We're very big on local labor, as well as trusted experienced
industry partners. We focus on building relationships that last the length of the project’s lifecycle. Mass Electric was our electrical contractor. They did all of the final installation of the racking, wiring, panels, and other major components. They worked with us to problem-solve real-time on site and were a true thought partner on strategy throughout the construction,” says Frazier. 

“We also had a crew and hired local labor through LaborReady and Solforce to support the module movement of panels onto the landfill cap for Mass Electric to install. Our onsite supervisor trained people and created a system for getting approximately 22,000 panels on to the cap. CanAm Contracting, who was experienced working with this particular GameChange Racking, provided tips and strategy for installation, as well as staging the racking throughout the field and managing all the concrete work to ensure the tubs, which secure the racking, were properly filled.

“We were amazed by the co-ordination and brainstorming, especially during a very rainy summer, which caused the ground to become saturated, and our inability to drive a concrete truck on the cap to fill the tubs due to weight restrictions,” she added.

The site sits atop a 90-acre landfill and has approximately 22,000 panels spread across the space. NuGen used a fixed ballast system through a long-term vendor relationship with GameChange Solar.

“A ballasted system was the only way we could build the project,” explains Frazier. “The landfill had a cap, which meant we couldn't dig very deep. Ultimately, if we penetrated the cap, we risked the whole project shutting down. We had to be extremely careful about the weight of the trucks as well. The onsite contractors used buggies throughout the construction of the project, driving the concrete to fill the tubs of concrete from the beginning of the landfill all the way to the end.”

The 6.875-MWdc solar site is located on the Town of Bristol, Rhode Island’s capped landfill. It’s the culmination of a partnership between the Town of Bristol, NuGen Capital Management, LLC (the project’s developer, owner and operator) and Toray Plastics (America), Inc., and an array of stakeholders across Rhode Island and within the sustainability industry.

It turns out that due to restrictions, the concrete trucks could only stay in place for an hour.

“It was like a movie watching these guys on these buggies with these buckets,” says Frazier. “They had one hour to unload all this concrete into these bins, while co-ordinating with the electrical engineers that were installing the panels and racking throughout the site. And if the land was saturated due to the very rainy summer, construction stopped to allow the ground to dry so we protected the cap.”

Even the buggies couldn't be used some days, so delays were caused due to inability to work due to lack of transportation across the massive site.

That wasn’t the only challenge. “We put as many panels on that project as humanly possible to try to optimize the system while ensuring our pounds-per-square-inch requirements were met,” says Frazier. “Once all the racking started being installed, we had to be very co-ordinated on where panel placement was occurring, and ensure tubs were being filled with concrete as efficiently as possible.”

NuGen selected Solectria string inverters and Hansol and Heliene panels. “We had those panels ordered to support our development pipeline, in advance, to mitigate delivery risk, and we allocated them to projects strategically.”

NuGen had also developed, installed and currently operates a rooftop solar project in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. In 2021, when the project was commercially operational, it was the largest single rooftop solar site in Rhode Island, but NuGen chose to allocate the Hansol and Heliene panels to Bristol strategically to hit generation goals for each specific project.

Since NuGen not only developed and oversaw construction on the site, but will also own and operate the facility, the string inverters were a no-brainer, says Frazier, as they increase uptime, maintenance costs, and productivity.

NuGen and the Town of Bristol worked out site management to include mowing responsibilities, so site oversight and management, as well as considerations around the operational site of the landfill and Town staff, by creating an operations and maintenance agreement creating a 15-foot buffer around the site. “We have both internal and external partners that know the approach to vegetation management on solar projects,” says Frazier. “If you shade one of these panels, you are losing kilowatt hours for the entire string of panels connected to it. Every kWh lost, to NuGen, is a kWh of clean energy not provided to our community and lost savings for our customers.

“The good news is, we have eyes on the site, and we have a historical track record for outperforming uptime and production of other projects.”

This project is special to Frazier. “I think the State of Rhode Island and the local communities throughout this state have really voiced that they believe in Rhode Island accomplishing their aggressive decarbonization goals. That's why we're so proud of our in-state accomplishments to date.

“We want to show what is possible if you put what you preach into practice. When you collaborate with stakeholders across multiple disciplines, you can bring creative ideas, perspectives and voices together in a way that makes your vision a reality.”

She adds, “Our team truly want to be a part of making that happen and I think this is exactly what we need to do to preserve our environment and to make the world a better place for our kids. And that aligns with NuGen’s core beliefs—through education, supporting our workforce, and supporting the environment, we can make true transformational change. This project is an example of how we accomplish that.

“I'm proud NuGen has stepped into the conversation, showing our community in Rhode Island and in others, nationally, what is possible. My hope, as well as our teams, is to show non-believers what's possible and start a conversation of how we grow this approach and make Rhode Island, corporate partners, and national leaders, see what is possible.”

Q4 2024