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other beneficial reuse of closed landfills and would indicate the legislature's intent to promote <br />development on the sites in the CLP. <br />Develop a technical guide to solar development on CLP sites. A technical guide could provide general <br />information about the unique design aspects of closed landfills and more detailed information about the <br />CLP program responsibilities associated with the landfills and process for developing solar on a closed <br />landfill site. The audience would be utilities, developers, local government, and finance stakeholders who <br />are unfamiliar with closed landfills and their potential for solar development. Subject matter experts at the <br />MPCA and Department of Commerce could develop this guide and be a clearinghouse for questions or <br />comments from users of the guide. We reference an example technical guide from the state of <br />Massachusetts for use as a starting point, which includes guidance in terms of working with local <br />governments, financers, utilities, and developers and a process to address many of the same barriers <br />discussed in this document. <br />Provide detailed technical and regulatory information for each of the top 10 sites. The M PCA is <br />developing the Minnesota Groundwater Contamination Atlas (Atlas) which is a GIS tool. The Atlas is <br />intended to develop into being the primary communication platform for information about <br />environmentally impacted properties in Minnesota. The MPCA is currently in the process of adding <br />information about the CLP sites and is awaiting additional Environment and Natural Resource Trust Fund <br />money to further expand the Atlas We recommend MPCA identify detailed technical and regulatory <br />information that would be important to solar development on the CLP sites and ensure the information is <br />integrated into the Atlas platform. Detailed technical and regulatory information may include specific <br />design elements of the sites, permit conditions, information on cap construction and maintenance status, <br />surrounding land use and natural features and other site -specific information deemed useful. The MPCA <br />or Department of Commerce could also consider completing techno-economic analysis for each of the <br />top sites using the free System Advisor Model. The audience for this information would be developers, <br />local land -use planning/zoning officials, utilities, and finance stakeholders who are interested in <br />developing plans and specifications for solar development on these sites. <br />Initiate a preliminary interconnection study for each of the top 10 sites. The interconnection to local <br />a transmission/distribution system is a large cost component to solar development and uncertainty <br />around what would be required on a site -by -site basis makes it difficult to determine the viability of solar <br />development. We do not assume a full-scale interconnection study as required by certain size solar <br />developments; however, collecting more detailed information about nearby transmission/distribution and <br />substation equipment, capacity, and ownership/control status. We believe this study could be conducted <br />by Minnesota Department of Commerce and the audience for this information is developers, utilities, and <br />transmission/distribution planners. <br />Reach out to stakeholders. One common barrier to development of solar energy on CLP sites is lack of <br />awareness of these sites and the solar development potential they represent among non -developers. The <br />Department of Commerce and MPCA could prepare informational materials for the top 10 sites and invite <br />key stakeholders to open discussions about the sites and solar development potential. Key stakeholders <br />include owners, utilities, transmission operators, developers, local government, and other regulators. <br />23 <br />