1. 1 Officials cutting the ribbon at the Solar Array Ribbon Cutting event, March 2025
  2. 2 Officials cutting the ribbon at the Solar Array Ribbon Cutting event, March 2025
  1. 1 North-Sea-Landfill-Photo-1
  2. 2 Site Visit 1
  3. 3 Site Visit 2

North Sea Landfill Community Solar Project

At the October 12, 2021 Town Board Meeting, the Southampton Town Board unanimously awarded a contract to Kearsarge Energy Limited Partnership of Boston, Massachusetts, to construct and operate a community solar installation of approximately 4.5 megawatts at the North Sea Landfill.

As part of the agreement, the Town will enter into a 20-year lease with Kearsarge Energy for the use of the landfill property.

As a municipally led Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) / Community Distributed Generation (CDG) solar project, the program provides multiple benefits to both the Town and local residents.

Community & Environmental Benefits

  • Productive reuse of 17 acres of decommissioned capped landfill
  • No-cost energy bill credits for participating community members for the 20-year life of the project
  • Energy bill credits available to the Town, helping reduce municipal energy costs for the 20-year project life
  • Annual lease payments to the Town over the 20-year project life, providing approximately $1.65 million in non-taxpayer revenue
  • Renewable energy contribution to the LIPA grid in a critical high-demand load pocket
  • Production of approximately 8.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to power about 773 households
  • Reduction of approximately 5,413 tons of CO₂ emissions annually
  • Job creation for Long Island-based engineering, electrical, and construction contractors

Financial Benefits

Under the agreement, the Town will receive:

  • Annual lease payments of $60,000, with a 2% annual escalator
  • A one-time payment estimated at $25,000 from the Town’s CCA administrator
  • The ability to provide participating community members with a 10% monthly energy bill credit

This credit equates to approximately one free month of electricity per year for participating households for the life of the project.

In addition, the Town may apply some of the energy credits generated by the solar installation toward its own electricity needs, helping to reduce municipal operating costs through renewable energy.

Construction of the solar array was completed with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony held in March 2025, marking the launch of the North Sea Landfill Community Solar Project. The project now provides renewable energy to the LIPA grid while delivering energy bill credits to participating community members and helping reduce municipal energy costs.

Site-Wide Production Report

8,043,893 kWh of clean energy generation is the equivalent of approximately the following:

    • Taking about 1,300 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles off the road for one year
    • Avoiding the emissions from the electricity use of about 1,050 homes for one year
    • Growing approximately 90,000 tree seedlings for 10 years
    • Recycling roughly 460,000 trash bags of waste instead of sending them to a landfill
    • Avoiding emissions equivalent to burning about 250,000 propane cylinders used for home barbecue grills

These equivalencies come directly from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.

Project Highlights: