Fairfax County turns on largest landfill solar array to power county buildings

Fairfax County officials and project partners marked the activation of the county's largest solar array, sited on a 30-acre landfill and designed to supply electricity to county facilities under a long-term arrangement.

An agency official involved with the project said, "This one project will produce about 5% of all the electricity the county government operations uses," and described the array as the county's largest to date at approximately five megawatts. The official said the installation will be credited to county accounts, including libraries and police stations, over a 30-year project term.

County staff framed the array as one element of a broader clean-energy strategy that includes building efficiency upgrades and earlier solar projects; officials said those efforts have already produced taxpayer savings and that the county aims for net-zero energy across county facilities by 2040. The official noted state enabling legislation and the 2020 enactment of "solar freedom" as steps that allowed the project to move forward.

Project partners described a nearly decade-long planning process dating to about 2016 that included feasibility studies, engineering evaluations and legal review before panels were installed. County representatives said this is the first project of its kind in the region to be sited on a landfill and emphasized long-term cost avoidance and resilience benefits.

County officials said the ribbon-cutting marks a start rather than an endpoint: staff will continue to pursue additional arrays and initiatives to expand the county's distributed generation.

The county did not provide a detailed present-value savings estimate in the segment; officials emphasized the project's contribution to decarbonization and future operating-cost reduction.