42-Acre Solar Farm Proposed For Middletown's Belford Section

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — A 42-acre solar farm is proposed to be built right next to the Belford ferry parking lot in Middletown, on the site of the long-closed Belford landfill.

Their application to build the solar farm is publicly accessible here.

The company that owns the solar farm is called CEP Renewables, and they had to submit the application before the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. They seek to build a "solar electric generation facility to be located at the Belford Landfill (a.k.a. Middletown Sanitary Landfill) site, on Port Monmouth Road," reads their application.

The solar farm would officially be called the Port Belford Solar Farm, LLC. It would take up 42 acres of the 260-acre lot, and it would generate a 26.496 MWdc (mega watts) into the power grid, according to their proposal.

The old Belford landfill, which has been closed since the '70s, has been determined by the state of New Jersey to be a "properly closed sanitary landfill facility." The state of New Jersey encourages solar farms to be built at closed former landfill sites and on brownfields.

The Belford Landfill property is an approximately 260-acre parcel that is primarily vacant. But it does include the parking lot for the Belford ferry terminal, and Middletown Township's composting/recycling center.

That entire property is currently owned by Monmouth County. It used to be an airfield. The landfill ceased operations in 1977 and it took up approximately 80 acres on the lot.

CEP Renewables would lease the 42 acres from Monmouth County.

That whole area falls under the “Port Belford Redevelopment Area," designated by Middletown Township as an area in need of redevelopment.

The application to build the solar farm is on tonight's agenda to be discussed at the Monday night Middletown Township Committee meeting (Oct. 16).

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the courtroom at the new Middletown town hall. If you cannot attend the meeting in person, you can call into the meeting by dialing 1-408-418-9388. The event access code is 2339 179 3030 followed by #. Enter 2023 if a passcode is required.