Lorton’s solar array field will consist of 12,000 panels covering 37 acres of closed landfill
Fairfax County has moved closer to adding more new renewable solar energy to credit against energy use in selected county facilities; the power equivalent of about 1,000 homes usage. Breaking ground for its first solar array field project on June 18, at the I-95 landfill, this project will add a 5-megawatt solar field production installation when completed in Spring 2026. Its production will offset energy consumed in about 20 of the county’s nearly 500 buildings through net metering virtual credits. Fairfax County is the first locality in Virginia to begin such a project on the grounds of a closed landfill. The project, the county’s first solar array field, and its largest solar project, adds to rooftop installations at several government facilities, to reduce energy costs and move the county toward its 2050 zero carbon emission goal.
The project joins Virginia’s growing number of solar array fields. As of June 2025, Virginia has over 130 utility-scale solar farms, totaling 4,861 mega-watts of operating capacity. In 2024, 26 solar farms were built in the Commonwealth. Several projects are under construction or proposed, showing continued movement toward expansion of solar energy in the state. According to the Virginia Department of Energy, the state has seen a significant increase in solar energy generation, now reaching 13 percent of its total power generated from solar plants. This ranks Virginia ninth in the country for solar panel installation.
In comparison to other array efforts, the I-95, five megawatt field, covering 37 acres of closed landfill with 12,000 solar panels, is relatively small. The largest, in California, a 579 megawatt site, covers five square miles with 1.7 million panels. The largest in Virginia, a private enterprise in Spotsylvania, and the largest east of the Rockies, covers 6,350 acres to power about 111,000 homes with a 340,000 ton carbon offset.
So why not go larger in the I-95 landfill’s open expanse? County director of the Office of Environment and Energy Coordination (OEEC), John Morrill, explains that the same legislation that allowed this kind of solar installation for localities, and provided for net metering, also limits that capacity. Virginia’s Solar Freedom Act of 2020, HB 572, increased and enabled distributed solar energy through several changes to utility regulations. Sponsored by former Delegate Mark Keam, of Vienna, the bill allowed localities to install solar or wind facilities of up to five megawatts on government-owned property and use the electricity for government-owned buildings. The bill raised the cap on the total amount of renewable energy that can be net metered in a utility's service territory from one percent to six percent. That provision of the Act also made net metering available to more residential customers, and increased residential customers’ cap on generation capacity to 150 percent of expected annual consumption.
Even with the legislated capacity limits, Morrill says of the project, “This is big.” It represents about five percent of the County’s energy use, and is larger than a dozen other efforts scattered throughout the county. Morrill expects a disproportionally positive impact from the installation.
His office touts converting previously unusable closed landfill space into beneficial acreage as a win for county residents. Of note, the county has no upfront development costs nor any anticipated staff increases. The project is constructed, funded and managed by Madison Energy Infrastructure, a company with the experience of constructing 400 such solar projects in 25 states. The project will include creating an interconnection with the Dominion Energy system. Madison will operate the installation over a 30-year partnership contract period, during which the county will buy the energy produced for ten cents per kWh; a considerable savings over current commercial rates.
Says Morrill, “The project could save the county $12 million dollars over the 30-year partnership and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 136,000 metric tons over the same period.“
The array on the landfill, a Department of Public Works and Environmental Services Solid Waste Management operation, will join two already completed DPWDES solar arrays. In 2024, DPWES unveiled a rooftop solar system at the Newington Solid Waste Facility in Lorton. This year, a solar system was installed on the roof at DPWES’s I-66 Transfer Station. Another solar array is currently under construction on the nearby I-95 Landfill Complex administrative building. (See Connection, Lorton, June 5-18, pg 12)
Solar farms are being developed on both agricultural and previously forested land. Some areas in Virginia have seen increased restrictions on solar development, with several localities placing caps on the amount of land that can be devoted to solar farms. Dozens of closed landfills are finding new uses, having been successfully converted into parks, golf courses, and nature preserves. Mount Trashmore Park, in Virginia Beach, is a 165-acre park that was formerly a landfill. Fairfax County will open Overlook Ridge Park in 2026 on a section of landfill that closed in 2018.
Although use of solar power is rising, other power sources continue to lead Virginia’s energy production, with about 55 percent from natural gas, 32 percent nuclear, 4 percent coal, and 5 percent wind, hydroelectric, biomass and geothermal.