162: From Landfills to Power Generators: Unconventional Solar with Annika Colston

In this episode of the Insiders Guide to Energy, we explore the innovative world of renewable energy with Annika Colston, CEO and founder of AC Power. With a passion for transforming brownfield sites into renewable energy goldmines, Annika shares her journey and the untapped potential of closed landfills. 

Annika Colston, a pioneer in the renewable energy sector, has dedicated nearly two decades to developing solar projects on capped landfills. Her mission is to redevelop as many of these sites as possible, turning them into sources of clean energy and revenue. With over 10,000 closed landfills in the U.S. alone, Annika's work with AC Power represents a significant opportunity for sustainable development. 

In this episode we delve into the challenges and opportunities of brownfield redevelopment, focusing on the technical and regulatory aspects of installing solar panels on former landfills. Annika discusses the complexities of permitting, the community and environmental benefits, and the innovative solutions required to navigate the unique conditions of these sites. Her insights reveal the critical role of policy and community engagement in advancing renewable energy projects. 

We also learn about the financial and social impacts of turning contaminated properties into productive solar energy sources. Annika highlights the importance of community solar programs, which allow local residents to benefit directly from clean energy generated on their own doorsteps. The discussion also covers the evolving landscape of solar energy financing and the potential for future growth in the sector. 

Tune in to gain an insider's perspective on the transformative power of solar energy in redeveloping brownfield sites, with Annika Colston leading the charge towards a more sustainable and energy-efficient future. 

Transcript

00:00.00 

Jeff McAulay 

Did you know you could buy power from your local landfill and I'm not just talking about burning the gas that comes off of the trash pile in this episode. We talk about brownfield development putting solar projects on capped landfills along with the challenges and growing support programs that allow you to purchase. Electricity. We're speaking with Annika Colston founder and CEO of AC power who founded the company to do just that put solar on brownfield sites shares nearly 2 decades of experience across all aspects of project development and is a great guide for this episode. Annika welcome to the show. 

01:08.60 

Annika Colston 

The national renewable energy laboratory estimates that there are over 10000 closed landfills that could generate at least 63 Gigawatts of electricity. And it's my mission to go out and redevelop as many landfills and contaminated properties as possible to help redevelop these sites into revenue generating opportunities. 

11:24.72 

Jeff McAulay 

That's fantastic Annika How did you discover? How did you discover this opportunity I mean this is you're absolutely right I think most people when they're driving by wouldn't know a landfill if they were driving right by it. These are things that we. 

11:41.62 

Jeff McAulay 

Forget about so how did you first become aware of that as an opportunity as something more than an eyesore something that could actually be a source of renewable energy. 

11:50.11 

Annika Colston 

Yeah, well prior to starting Ac power in 2016 I had developed and sold a portfolio of landfill gas to energy projects and these were small scale projects that were not required by the federal government to collect the gas. So. There was an opportunity to put in a 1 or 2 engine system and and create some revenue for the site. What I found in my um origination efforts was that most folks had old landfills that had very low or declining gas cars and those were the. Ah drains economic drains because they had continued operation and maintenance and regulatory compliance and they were looking for something to do with these sites and there was no opportunity and so after I sold this portfolio. It came to me that. Solar would be an excellent ah long-term end use for these sites and so went back around to engage with these landfill owners and understand how could solar be a compliment to their ongoing you know, o and m requirements. 

13:02.33 

Jeff McAulay 

Just to clarify first on landfill gas so natural gas as a fossil fuel comes from decomposing organic matter when we put trash in big piles in the earth. It also decomposes and releases gas primarily methane that would either go into the atmosphere or in this case could be burned for Energy. So It's not burning the trash but that's burning the gas that comes from Decomposition. So That's your landfill gas opportunity but that just requires essentially pipes into the landfill is that already. In place and the gas is either going up into the air or you're burning. It. 

13:40.72 

Annika Colston 

Yes, most of the time it involves putting in wells and then collecting it and either flaring it which reduces the methane and converts it or putting it into a couple of engines to create electricity and now they're also you know pipe it to create. Um, you know, liquefied natural gas and so. 

13:56.63 

Jeff McAulay 

Got it now that doesn't do anything with the surface of the landfill. So these are big mounds they're capped. Do they have grass on top like paint the picture for us. So they big rubber. 

13:58.22 

Annika Colston 

So lot of opportunities. 

14:02.43 

Annika Colston 

Hit. 

14:13.98 

Jeff McAulay 

Black mats with tires on top of them. What is a cap landfill across. 

14:17.95 

Annika Colston 

Yeah, most of the time they have ah been revegetated so they have some low growing um vegetation and nothing that will ideally get too tall or they do have to do mowing and so they can often be um. Steep on the side and have a plateau on the top and so the flat areas and um, not too soloy make great candidates for solar and the way that they do. It is a ballasted system so they. Put concrete blocks rather than driving poles into the ground like traditional solar they put concrete blocks on top of the solar and just place the panels on top of them. So There's no disturbance to the landfill because as we all know health and human safety is the priority at a landfill. 

15:05.55 

chrissass 

Now I'm a bit of a pessimist which is probably unusual to be in renewable energy. But this is just who I am and when things are too good to be true I'm always skeptical so solar. For example, folks worry about solar going into pristine vegetation going in the soil impacts and all that. Now you're coming along with a model that I understand where the land is already disturbed you talked about these plateaus on top So is basically flat does this make environmental impact much easier and is permitting quicker with these kind of projects. 

15:32.26 

Annika Colston 

That. 

15:40.54 

Annika Colston 

Well no permitting can be much longer. But I think that the local permitting and getting your um site plan approvals with the community with the planning board and the community. That part can be more straightforward and so generally these communities have already accepted these lands as disturbed. So they're already developed and so you're not, We're coming in and we're doing like solar redevelopment almost and so the community tends to be supportive. But in terms of working with the department of environmental protection or the Epa There is a lot that goes into permitting solar on a property that's already facing environmental and regulatory compliance. 

16:22.40 

chrissass 

All right? We we started with some nomenclature that I just want to clear out there. There were in my mind. This interview is going to be about Brownfield and all of a sudden. There's this word disturbed comes in help me understand what a disturbed property is and how does that play into the brown field that we're having this conversation about. 

16:34.96 

Annika Colston 

Um. 

16:41.38 

Annika Colston 

Yes, so we developed solar on property that had prior contamination or had been previously disturbed. We call it and so it may have been cleaned up and brought back to. Um. Compliance and and is no longer contaminated but there is ah no higher or better use than solar and so often for brownfield a traditional brownfield a brownfield redeveloper can come in clean up the property and then they can put a warehouse on top of it or. You know, housing even and so those are um, high revenue generating endeavors putting in ah ah Amazon warehouse is going to generate a lot of revenue solar projects. Are not going to generate as much revenue for the landowner and so solar is when solar is the best and highest use. Those are the properties we're going after. 

17:35.75 

chrissass 

And what about taxes for their community. So if I have a brownfield in my community I don't imagine. It's given me much revenue if it's a super fund site or something like that if you put solar on there are there tax revenues coming into the community at that point. Yeah. 

17:50.57 

Annika Colston 

Yeah that's a great question. So many of our projects will have had like absent owners. So there is a title issue which means that nobody is paying property taxes anymore. So we'll often have you know. The the landfill was operating in the 1970 s or eighty s and then it was closed. It became a liability to the owner the owner passed away and now the children are not answering the phone and no one's paying taxes so we just developed a site in Oldbridge New Jersey for instance had you know millions of dollars of back taxes. So this was a liability for the town we were able to negotiate a pilot agreement which is um in a lieu of taxes an agreement in lieu of taxes where we agreed to pay. Taxes moving forward which brought revenue to to the town so it was just 1 example of how these sites can be a benefit to the community. 

18:53.17 

Jeff McAulay 

This is great. So not only are you developing solar on places where it's not possible to put a building or a playground or anything else, but these are literally places that aren't paying taxes or are actually in in default in some respect. You're putting solar arrays there 2 questions. How big are these solar projects and then who's the buyer of that electricity. So. 

19:21.51 

Annika Colston 

So most of our projects have been ah developed for community solar and that's often because these sites are not situated near other energy loads. So we have to interconnect to the utility and then we can sell to. Local subscribers and the projects tend to be either limited in size by the community solar program that we're applying into or by the interconnection or by land constraints. That's usually um, the the last constraint. These projects tend to range in about 5 to seven Megawatts on average. But we've done between one megawatt and thirteen and a half Megawatts all for community solar. 

20:10.94 

Jeff McAulay 

Um, and put that in context for us so a but or a 10 megawat system is a hundred households 500 households 

20:17.36 

Annika Colston 

So the project I mentioned in New Jersey was two point Eight Megawatts and it's powering 460 homes 

20:26.80 

Jeff McAulay 

That's great and how do people find out if there's a project in their community that they could be buying power from. 

20:34.79 

Annika Colston 

So That's a great question and there is a lot of um work that is still being done and development within the community solar sector and who is providing the service and the marketing and how does the word get out there and so. Sometimes the local community will know what community solar projects are there and so you could go to your municipality and and ask them otherwise the community solar subscribe subscription companies like Arcadia that we work with. Ah, they list all of the projects on their website so you can you can um, enroll in a project if you're in a state that has a community solar program and this is really up and coming So There's still only a handful of states that have. Operating Programs. There's a lot of legislation in states that are considering it. 

21:27.32 

Jeff McAulay 

Wonderful! So not only is there this solar power plant in my community. But if I live nearby or in the same county or utility district I can actually get that power from the the local field. The local brown field. And that reduces my electricity bill even without having solar onsite. That's community solar I think most people understand it. But you're absolutely right? It is a little bit confusing. It's not straightforward our Katie L quick shout out to Arcadia Also A customer not an investor and would know no sponsorship or support. But they do actually make it easy. You put your power bills in and then if there's a community solar opportunity to nearby. You have the ability to opt in and essentially get a discount on the power What do you see as major trends in community solar going forward. This seems to be the the primary use. Of the projects you're developing correct and. 

22:22.88 

Annika Colston 

Yes, that's right, there is incredible demand for allocations from these programs so to say differently these programs are extremely competitive for solar developers to win the awards so they have ah. Capped program that might be offering three hundred Megawatts per year of community solar awards and there's often twice that amount that's being sought after by solar developers so there is more supply of solar projects than there is. Demand for the community solar awards at this point and so we hope to see more and more states implement permanent programs to support community solar There's a federal program that's been developed which is highly competitive as well. Um, there are some additional. Adders through the um Ira that will support low and moderate income. So they're trying to find ways to to increase the opportunity and I'll just add the reason why community solar is so popular is because. For every site that would make an excellent candidate for solar. You have to find offtake so who is going to purchase the electricity and back in you know the olden days of my early career. Everything was done through a power purchase agreement and if you were lucky you would get it through the local utility. 

23:52.30 

Annika Colston 

Or you would find a large end user and they would enter into a 20 year plus agreement to purchase the electricity that model is not as as active today and so the community solar approach gives a 15 year um subscription opportunity which allows investors to commit the capital required to build these projects so in order for us to build projects nationwide. We need to solve the problem with for offtake. 

24:22.21 

chrissass 

Now you just mentioned nationwide you and I get to know each other because of the Mid-atlantic region I think it was a solar show in Maryland that we we met at for community solar. Um, but I also am curious as. State to state Maryland was kind of edging into community solar it was up in the game this year some of the other Mid-atlantic states were doing something different, but your projects are in New York I see you in Virginia I see you all over the place. How does state to state legislation and particularly benefits for brown fields play because I know there's a number of states that actually have. 

24:43.94 

Annika Colston 

The. 

24:53.40 

chrissass 

Legislation that helps support these Brownfield developments. How does that play into your business model. 

24:57.77 

Annika Colston 

Well, it's a big factor and so I will say that the best case scenario is if solar on landfills is not competing against solar on Greenfield projects because. As I mentioned they are just different in terms of the timeline to develop them and the amount of risk and capital that goes goes into the project upfront and so from my perspective you know we're working with large corporates. Ah we work on superfund sites which have. A group of potentially responsible parties. So you might be working with 30 corporates that are ultimately responsible for the financial remedy the the environmental remedy at a site and so when we work with them and they are on board and say yes we want to develop a solar on the site with you. We want some predictability for the next you know, two or three years that we're going to be able to work with the Epa or the local dep and the and the municipal government to get this project approved. We're going to be able to go through the interconnection process which can take years. Sometimes and we'll be able to get an interconnection agreement and at the end we will have an incentive and um, a program that the project can land at the end and so that is extremely tricky when you're just competing against everyone else that have you know rooftop. 

26:27.33 

Annika Colston 

Warehouse Project doesn't take years to permit. It's much easier. 

26:30.21 

chrissass 

Now when I look through the doe or Nrail's projections of doing this kind of brownfield development for solar. Um, they always talk about the levelized cost of electricity. So what is the cost of electricity and impact to these kind of projects. 

26:43.97 

Annika Colston 

Well, again, that's an attractive part about community solar and why we're all you know, pushing for more community solar the revenue source for community solar is the residential rate and so we're often offering a discount to the residential rate. But the residential rate is much higher. Than the commercial rate that would otherwise be available or even worse the wholesale rate and so you might be getting fourteen cents per Kilowatt hour at the residential rate and on the wholesale rate if you were just selling into the pjm market for instance. It might be three and a half cents and that differential is obviously a deal killer for many of these projects. 

27:32.10 

Jeff McAulay 

Great. So instead of selling on the wholesale rate again screen fill power Projects. You're able to ah in some maybe five X The amount of revenue through the community solar programs that makes a ton of sense and these are all traditional. Technologies This is normal flat plate Silicon Pv are there other innovations that are helping you develop these projects. So. 

27:56.70 

Annika Colston 

Yes there's some excitement I mean the solar market is always innovating and so um, most of the market is working with trackers now. So the solar panels move with the sun throughout the day and that has an impact on the production efficiency. So you can produce a lot more kilowatt hours per day with a solar panel that moves with the sun and as I mentioned we have ballasted systems so our projects sit on top of the concrete and the panel that is generally fixed. And so our production efficiency is much lower, but there are now ah technology providers that are looking to do trackers on ballasted systems and if we can do that we're seeing sometimes you know 50% more output and there are you know tradeoffs with everything you will. You will take it will take greater land area to do a tracker system so you might have some losses in your Dc capacity. But you have significant gains in the production. Another thing that would be exciting is as I mentioned we can really only build on the flat surfaces or something that's kind of less. Than a 15% slope many landfills have significant side slopes they are designed to try to maximize the airspace that they've been permitted so there are many opportunities where there are side slopes and there might be solar um south facing side slopes. 

29:28.15 

Annika Colston 

So if we can develop technology that will allow us to put the panels and not way that's not disturbing the landfill on these slopes we would again increase the acreage that could be developed significantly. 

29:44.83 

Jeff McAulay 

That's really exciting you mentioned also going back to the financing side and regulatory side that there are increasingly additional adders out of the recent Ira bill. How is that improving the finanability of your projects. 

29:57.61 

Annika Colston 

Well I'll just say that it's very exciting that the inflation reduction act was passed but like most things solar it is ups and downs and that's why we call it the solar coaster right? So I remember in you know August of. 2022 when it was passed. We were all thrilled that there was the energy communities outer and there were brownfield adder included into that. But then as we read more and more of the details. We realized there were many many exclusions and so a lot of our projects actually don't qualify under the brownfield. Adder but overall now that we're you know a year and a half in we are finding ways to identify projects that will qualify it for a 40 sometimes a 50% adder and with those kind of um. Tax credits. You can develop solar almost nationwide and you won't have to rely on a state's program or a state's s rec and I think that could be really exciting but the what we've found is. There's a bit of an early mover disadvantage you know tax equity providers are a bit conservative. They're risk averse. It's many, um, you know, bankers and lawyers who don't want to take a lot of risks. 

31:22.40 

Annika Colston 

On the Irs issuing new guidance that contradicts something that they underwrote and then they may not be um, ah that tax equity may not be available. So we've been working with insurance providers on tax equity insurance which was something that is totally new to me. But was again how the market started when the Itc was first realized many years ago and so until there's more experience with it. The insurance seems to be a good product. 

31:55.32 

Jeff McAulay 

Just gonna say I did not put you up to that at all that was complete on on your own accord bringing up financing and insurance which are of course my my favorite topics here going back I Just want to clarify you said a lot of these projects don't qualify under the Brownfield adder which. When you get it takes a 30% investment tax credit and can bump it up to 40 or 50% of the project's value. That's really impressive, but it seems like you're doing exactly the types of projects that should fit where is that legislation. Missing the target and. 

32:31.88 

Annika Colston 

So what the congress essentially did when they were writing the bill is they took the Epa's definition of brownfield which basically says. Any property that has a some contamination or you know has has um, identified something through a phase one or a phase two study is a brownfield so it basically like throws everything in and and qualifies and then it starts with the exclusions. So it says accept. If and it's in those exclusions that it basically eliminates so many of these opportunities and the rationale as I understood it was that when so they relied on the surfla definition which is a and. A definition that's used by the epa and it is designed so that for anybody who was responsible for the liability and for the um information for the sorry now I read your touch. You're. 

33:43.81 

Annika Colston 

Anybody that was responsible for the waste that was put in was not able to benefit from any money that was available to the government so they didn't want to pay the polluters essentially so this was the problem with using the definition is. The polluters are actually not the ones that are developing the solar projects we're developing the solar projects and the solar project needs. The Itc revenue in order for it to be economic so it was apparently one of those like late night oversights where they didn't realize using that definition would actually be. Ah, disaster. 

34:22.40 

chrissass 

I Think what we should do is I think we I think we should switch gears go into your personal journey a bit bit about you and we started out very high level there. But let's let's let's dive in a little bit. How did you end up doing this so you started working with gas in brown fields. 

34:23.56 

Jeff McAulay 

And that's fascinating. Yeah. 

34:41.75 

chrissass 

How how how this transition take place. Yeah. 

34:43.91 

Annika Colston 

Yeah, so I've always been in renewable energy project development. But I've always been drawn to the Niche Project. You know the project that needs a little something to get going and you know I guess I like the challenge and. Um, found that I could be most useful when I was quarterbacking these difficult projects. So as I'd mentioned with these small scale landfill gas to energy projects. They weren't the low hanging fruit. The traditional traditional landfill gas developer wasn't interested in them. When I sold that portfolio many of my friend colleagues were in the solar market and I was like yeah yeah, yeah, Solar. It's so easy which now I know it's not for anybody is like such a mature Market. What would I do in solar where would my expertise be useful and that's where I realized in these landfill Projects. And I think that I can communicate well with landfill owners who really don't feel incentivized to put solar on their landfill because they are trying to stay in compliance. They don't want anything to happen to their landfill site and so. We can make them feel comfortable that land that solar will be a great compliment to their landfill and health and human safety is always the priority and it's just so rewarding to see these projects. Go forward and realize all of the benefits that can come along with them like we mentioned previously. 

36:13.83 

chrissass 

Now amazing that you say that you you interact very well with these these owners of the land and you move them forward. Um does it ever come up that you're a female owned business in. Is this a space I don't think landfills and female owned businesses. That's just not the first thing that pops to mind when I'm thinking reclaiming landfills. 

36:33.58 

Annika Colston 

Yes, um I am a bit unusual in the market for sure and there are um, there are a lot of folks that are really excited to work with a woman owned business and. That we do have a lot of women that work here and that are in the environmental um and redevelopment space. So yeah, it's It's been a great journey being able to um, continue to support women in technology women in the environment. Women in redevelopment. That's okay I don't know what you said? So Okay I. 

37:06.30 

chrissass 

All right? I'm not going to rephrase that to women owned I apologize I'm I'm still working on stuff. So if I didn't mean to miss snap on myself female and you you went to women and perhaps I'm not using the prop for terms. Um Jeff I'm going to leave it to you to go the next question before I step on myself some more. 

37:23.20 

Jeff McAulay 

Um, it's great. Um, and what advice do you have for other aspiring leaders of of any sort whether they're you know, ah women who want to found their own company are the people of diverse background or just listeners in General. We're looking to get more into this sector and might have not realized that there are really hard parts even in mature Industries. So. 

37:42.97 

Annika Colston 

Yeah I I think for me it it was about finding things that I was really passionate about and not because they made me feel good or happy but usually because they made me feel really frustrated and like I wanted to do something about it and so. I think that was was what drove me to start Ac power and continue to be an advocate in this space and you know continue to work through all of the challenges because we ultimately all want to see these projects and these sites redeveloped. 

38:18.58 

Jeff McAulay 

I would need to go back to that for a second because that's so fascinating I feel like the conventional wisdom is find something you love what you just said is different from that you said find something that's frustrating tell me more about what you mean by that and why that is so counter to the. Conventional advice and. 

38:41.40 

Annika Colston 

Well I think that if it's something that's frustrating. It's usually because it's going to be difficult and there's you know, an obstacle a barrier and so that to me presents opportunity and so the problems we ah um. You know we're a very mission-driven company. We have um, our values and under our values. Our a series of grounders and so every week we talk about our What's the grounder for the week we try to use them in our language and 1 of them. We use all the time is we don't have problems, we have opportunities. So if you identify these problems these frustrations. There's usually something that needs to be fixed tweaked repaired and that takes innovation and change and so that's what we seek to do. 

39:29.11 

chrissass 

Wow that that's that's amazing. What what? I'd like to do is ask 1 thing that I ask all our guests and it's a crystal ball question and so I'm just curious how much power do you see being generated from brown fields in about a year from now? 

39:46.67 

Annika Colston 

Well I mean I really want to say one point two one Gigawatts because it's back to the future like what other answer but I mean if I had my crystal ball. It's what I would say. 

39:57.25 

Jeff McAulay 

Wonderful. 

40:01.87 

chrissass 

Awesome! Well I want to thank you so much for being on the podcast today. It's been a pleasure having you as our guest. 

40:06.24 

Annika Colston 

Thank you so much. The pleasure is mine.