FARMERS BRANCH, Texas — When Texas grid operator ERCOT left the state in the dark and cold in 2021, Farmers Branch city leaders began thinking about what could be changed locally. It found the answer in a decades-old landfill.
“Just seeing the impact that it had on the local, just everybody in terms of losing their electricity, is there anything we can do,” sustainability director Shane Davis said.
A landfill off Valley View Lane and the President George Bush Turnpike has long been shut down and capped. Because of the high traffic the area gets, developers wanted to develop it, but state regulations were too expensive to navigate.
“We had a piece of land that just wasn’t – no one could develop it,” Davis said. “It was expensive.”
The city has already installed solar panels on one of its fire departments, library and recreation center, so it decided to turn the 20 acres into a solar farm.
“We saw an opportunity to help benefit the electric grid and benefit the city at the same time,” Mayor Terry Lynne said.
The city signed a contract with BQ Energy to create and install the panels and lease the land from the city which will buy the energy produced at a fixed rate for the next 20 years.
Lynne says the 6.5 megawatts produced aren’t just about saving the environment. It’s about saving money.
Farmers Branch will be the first city in the first in the state to produce enough renewable energy inside its borders to fully power itself.
“The economic benefits of that are huge,” Lynne said. “I think it’s really exciting. It shows that cities can be progressive and innovative.”
“I’m ecstatic about this. I really am,” Davis said. “To me, it’s great. These are the projects I like to do.”
The city is finishing permitting and hopes to break ground early next year with the solar farm going online in the fall of 2024.
They’ll still need ERCOT to stay online to get the power because the lines don’t run straight from the field to city buildings, but any extra power generated helps everyone in the state by adding to the capacity.
“Anything we can do to reduce our local emissions from city sources, things related to us, helps the public health in that perspective,” Davis said.
On days the sun feels punishing, Farmers Branch will be reaping its reward.
“There’s no reason an old landfill needs to sit there and just grow weeds,” Lynne said. “Now, it’s growing power.”