There’s a bright side to everything, even landfills and brownfields; and now municipalities have a toolkit to reveal it.

This week, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced a new municipal solar toolkit to assist municipalities in developing solar projects on underutilized lands, supporting Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s mandate for 50 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable resources by 2030.

“Responsible development of solar projects on brownfields and landfills enables municipalities to transform this dead space into a renewable energy resource,” said Alicia Barton, NYSERDA’s President and CEO, in an August 22 press release.

As the latest chapter to NYSERDA’s New York Solar Guidebook, the Municipal Solar Procurement Toolkit provides an overview on municipal procurement and an accessible template for a land lease agreement. This Toolkit also supports recent revisions to the NY-Sun Megawatt Block Program, which provides financial incentives for developing solar projects upon underutilized land.

NYSERDA’s continued goal is to help municipalities become solar-ready communities.