Solar panel installation complete at McKees Park

After years of planning and several months of site work, activity at McKees Solar Park is beginning to heat up now that the city has finished installing the 900-panel array for the 230-kilowatt solar farm off East Cleveland Avenue.

Once it goes live next month, McKees is expected to produce enough electricity to power approximately 26 to 36 homes, depending on the season, as well as reduce the citys peak power demand, lower the wholesale cost of power, generate solar renewable energy credits, bring locally-produced green energy to Newark electric users and reduce the citys carbon footprint.

Council initially approved the redevelopment of the 3.91-acre brownfield site known as McKees Park in 2012, after District 6 Councilman Stu Markham expressed interest in transforming the former municipal landfill-turned neglected park into a power source for the city.

I like the idea of being able to generate your own power, and solar seems to be the cleanest and easiest way to do it, Markham said. McKees Park, it was worth nothing to us.

Markham said the city had been collecting money though residents electric bills through Delmarva Powers Green Energy Program to pay for green energy projects, which he pushed to allocate toward creating the states first community solar park in Newark.

Public Works Director Tom Coleman said work to redevelop McKees Park began last summer and proved to be a difficult task.

The primary challenge is the brownfield itself, he said, adding that remnants of a former baseball field and basketball court in McKees Park were still intact when crews got to the site. It was still there when we started and had to be removed.

In order to minimize disturbance of the site, Coleman said, city officials met with a landfill consultant.

Workers installed a vapor barrier under the concrete slab foundation and above the stone base that functions as a lid and vents any harmful vapors through a vent pipe out above the roofline.

He said crews also dealt with drainage and settlement issues because the former park was built on top of the landfill and several months were dedicated to redesigning the panel racking system to allow for adjustments in case of future settlement.

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Solar panel installation complete at McKees Park