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A former waste disposal site in Lorton is now home to Fairfax County’s largest solar energy project, a 5-megawatt array spanning 37 acres of the closed I-95 Landfill Complex.
Construction took about a year at the county facility at 9850 Furnace Road. Fairfax County and developer Madison Energy Infrastructure plan to mark the project’s completion with a public ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. on May 28.
John Morrill, director of the county’s Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination, said converting the capped landfill demonstrates how climate initiatives can reduce taxpayer energy costs, improve the resilience of the power supply and offer a model for other clean-energy projects on county property.
The landfill was previously owned by the District of Columbia and stopped receiving municipal waste after Fairfax County acquired it in 1995. Today, it primarily accepts ash from a waste-to-energy plant operated by Reworld while continuing to provide recycling and disposal services for residential and commercial customers.
Fairfax County had considered using the closed section for solar panels since at least 2017. The proposal encountered delays while awaiting authorization from the Virginia General Assembly, which came through the Solar Freedom Act in 2020, as well as complications involving vendors.
In September 2022, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved leasing roughly 40 acres to Sun Tribe Solar. The company was one of three vendors selected in 2019 for a power-purchase initiative intended to install solar arrays at more than 100 county, park and school properties.
Madison Energy ultimately took over the landfill project, but the financial structure remained largely unchanged. Under the 30-year power purchase agreement, the company is responsible for constructing, operating and maintaining the array. Fairfax County will purchase the electricity it generates.
County officials estimate the installation will produce enough power each year for about 1,000 homes, avoid approximately 136,000 metric tons of carbon emissions and save Fairfax County $12 million in energy expenses over three decades.
Public Works and Environmental Services Director Christopher Herrington said the array complements methane capture, bird habitat management, rooftop solar and other sustainability work at the landfill.
Methane from the closed landfill is already collected and converted into energy. Other solar installations operate at the complex’s administrative building, the I-66 Transfer Station on West Ox Road and the Newington Solid Waste Facility.
Fairfax County’s 2025 Climate Action Progress report says rooftop panels are now operating on 13 county buildings and generating 1.8 megawatts of electricity.
Before the new landfill array is included, more than 5,600 public and private solar installations across Fairfax have a combined capacity of 49 megawatts. That already exceeds the county’s goal of reaching 46 megawatts by 2030 under the Community-Wide Energy and Climate Action Plan adopted in 2021.
Along with energy-efficiency upgrades, greater electric-vehicle use and other programs, solar expansion has contributed to a 28% reduction in countywide greenhouse gas emissions since 2005, equal to 4.2 million metric tons. Emissions did rise slightly between 2020 and 2023 as vehicle travel recovered from the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Morrill said the progress has depended on cooperation among county agencies, community groups, businesses and residents, even as federal and state policy and funding conditions have become more difficult.