The Planning Board has approved the application of Monmouth Solar 1, LLC to construct a 239-acre solar farm on a former sanitary landfill in the township. Appearing before the Planning Board, attorney Grace Chun returned with new evidence seeking approval for a Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan to construct a solar energy facility located at 2921 Lakewood Allenwood Road in Howell. The land is owned by Monmouth County, and the applicant sought to keep the existing maintenance and pump buildings, as well as a perimeter fence and an existing gravel access road that runs through the facility.
Opened in 1946, the landfill was officially closed 50 years later. As part of its closing plans, the D.E.P. capped it and provided a three-foot layer of soil above it. The site is somewhat unique in that it is surrounded by four streams and associated wetlands and the cap, as well as the soil layer, helps to protect the area.
Because of the inability to drive support poles into the soil, the solar panels will sit on ballast blocks on the ground. The framework that supports the solar panels will then rest atop the ballast blocks to avoid any penetration into the cap, and the subsequent incursion of contaminants into the soil. When it is fully operational, the site is expected to generate 19 megawatts of power and would tie directly into the JCP&L power grid.