Solar hopes rise again at Flying Cloud Landfill – Eden Prairie Local News

Posted on June 30, 2026 by Now.Solar






Six years ago, a state report ranked Eden Prairie’s long-closed Flying Cloud Landfill as Minnesota’s prime candidate for a massive solar energy transformation.
Then came the red tape. The grueling complexities of landfill cleanups and financing effectively shelved the project for years.
But there may be a breakthrough on the horizon. A pilot solar project at the Anoka-Ramsey Landfill, set to switch on this summer, is reviving hopes for a “waste-to-watts” rebirth at Flying Cloud and other closed landfills – even if that rebirth looks a little different than originally conceived.
As much as putting solar panels atop closed landfills might create a “green” second act for a toxic past, there’s little about the idea that is certain. The obstacles identified in 2020 largely remain, and now there’s an additional one: federal tax credits for solar projects are disappearing.
“I think it could still happen,” though it would depend on the specifics of the project, said David Moberg, who works with energy companies, state legislators and others as the manager of government affairs at the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association (MnSEIA).
“Generally speaking, these are very much projects that can go forward,” he added.
Flying Cloud Landfill, located east of and across a county road from Flying Cloud Airport, has a long and storied history that mirrors the changes in environmental regulation in Minnesota.
It was a sand and gravel quarry and open dump in the 1960s, but as Minnesota began regulating solid waste disposal, the state issued an official permit for Flying Cloud Landfill in 1971.
In the 1980s, after longtime operator Woodlake Sanitary Services, a subsidiary of Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), applied to expand the landfill, environmental studies detected underground toxic fluids leaking into the surrounding soil and the water table near the Minnesota River.
Facing strict new environmental demands, a localized groundwater crisis, protests by Eden Prairie residents and the inability to secure expansion without extensive remediation, the landfill officially stopped accepting municipal solid waste and closed its gates in 1988, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The expansion never happened.
Since then, Flying Cloud has been the subject of a rigorous cleanup program overseen by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), which owns and oversees most of the property.
The Eden Prairie landfill isn’t alone. There are currently 112 state-permitted closed landfills that are being monitored and managed in perpetuity by the MPCA to protect the environment and human health. It’s an expensive task. The MPCA currently estimates that it will need $421 million through fiscal year 2054 to meet financial obligations in the Closed Landfill Program.
When the Legislature, in 2019, asked the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) to assess the potential for solar farms atop these closed facilities, Flying Cloud Landfill ended up topping the list based on its size, capacity to generate power, and proximity to transmission infrastructure.
The EQB says Flying Cloud Landfill is 236 acres — nearly 2½ times the size of Eden Prairie’s Miller Park — and if the buildable area were fully utilized for solar, it could generate 43.1 megawatts of power. That’s more than 33 times what is generated from the community solar garden atop the Eden Prairie Community Center.
Overall, the EQB said closed Minnesota landfills, if fully utilized, could generate as much as 950 megawatts of power “or enough to power over 100,000 homes.”
But the report also pointed out obstacles, including restrictions in the bonds sold to clean up Minnesota’s landfills.
General-obligation bonds have been sold for major construction projects as part of that program, and roughly half of the closed landfills in the program have end-use restrictions tied to that financing. Violating the terms could jeopardize the tax-exempt status enjoyed by bondholders and open the MPCA to litigation. The prospects for beneficial reuse, including solar development, are limited where bond financing was used until those bonds are fully repaid, according to the MPCA. Bonds used for Flying Cloud Landfill’s cleanup won’t expire until 2055.
Could the state speed up the process by paying to retire the bonds early?
Yes, but that’s an expensive proposition, too. A legislative workaround was approved in 2021 for the Anoka-Ramsey Landfill, which closed 33 years ago, with state lawmakers removing bond restrictions for that site only, calling it a first-of-its-kind pilot project.
Connexus Energy, an electric cooperative that serves a portion of the northern Twin Cities area, had identified approximately 30 acres of buffer area — outside of the closed landfill’s cap — where it could install enough solar panels for a 4.125-megawatt system. Less than $100,000 in bonds had to be paid off for the buffer area that was under bonding restrictions, and lease payments by Connexus will pay that back in less than three years, according to Connexus President and CEO Brian Burandt. The lease payments will go into a special state account that could fund other landfill solar projects.
No other solar projects on closed landfills have been undertaken, and the MPCA said this week that it would probably take bond repayment or special state legislation to make them happen. More obstacles have surfaced. In addition to the constraints of landfill-cleanup bonding, solar developers also face darker days when it comes to tax incentives. The federal government’s approach has shifted under President Donald Trump, with its 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill accelerating the phase-out of tax credits for U.S. solar projects. That makes the economic margins even tighter for companies like Connexus, which says its project was predicated on the investment tax credits available at the time.
But Burandt believes the Anoka-Ramsey project could be replicated. In fact, he said his company might be interested in a second project at Oak Grove, a closed landfill in northern Anoka County that is relatively flat with lots of buffer area.
The CEO cautions that it’s unrealistic to expect much solar development on the landfill caps themselves. He said it’s been estimated that putting solar panels on a landfill cap would cost 10% to 15% more than building in the buffer area, because panels on the landfill cap would need to sit atop the cap and be weighted down rather than secured into the ground in a pile-driven configuration that might puncture the landfill’s cap. All wiring would need to be above ground for the same reason. The caps can also settle, as decomposing trash below continues to shift, creating dips and sinkholes. If the MPCA were required to take remedial action on the landfill, the agency reiterated this week, the cost of moving the panels and equipment would be at the expense of the vendor or owner.
“It’s more cost-effective to build off of the landfill,” Burandt said. “I’m excited about (solar on) the buffer areas, but not on top, no.”
The City of Eden Prairie is open to the idea of putting solar panels on landfill property, said Community Development Director Julie Klima, and has conceptually earmarked the property for an “Eco Innovation” land use in its Aspire 2040 guide plan.
But the city has limited say, since the property is owned by the MPCA. Sustainability Coordinator Jennifer Fierce said the city has proactively organized multiple discussions with solar developers, utilities and the MPCA over the years to try to facilitate solar development on the site.
“We think it would be a great use of land that otherwise cannot be utilized and it would align with our climate action plan goals,” she said in an email response to EPLN questions. “Unfortunately, we have been unable to find a workable solution to the various development barriers at this point.”
“I certainly would love to see it,” she added, “but right now it’s a hard project to make work. If there were changes at the legislative level around bond restrictions, that would help, but there are still other extra costs for building on a closed landfill and interconnection that would need to be addressed as well.”
If a developer did step forward, the city would need to add detail to the eco-innovation zoning concept, outlining design standards and what specific land uses would be allowed. Klima said it’s likely the MPCA would have a role in reviewing any solar proposal, and the city would need to make sure any proposal is compatible with nearby Flying Cloud Airport.
Solar isn’t the only end use that’s been suggested for Flying Cloud Landfill, only the most recent.
In 1985, even as expansion of the landfill was being debated, the city’s planning commission was shown a conceptual end-use plan depicting a recreation complex, including ball fields, an idea rebuffed by the commission. More recently, pollinator-friendly open space has also been suggested.
Any end use is hampered by the need to keep the gradually settling landfill cap intact and to allow continued monitoring, including via wells, by the MPCA.
In the end, the obstacles to solar on landfills are numerous and formidable. While up-and-down renewable-energy policy over the years has created what Moberg and industry colleagues call a “solar-coaster,” the fact remains that solar energy hardware has dropped in price, become more efficient, can be placed just about anywhere there is space and is relatively cheap to implement.
“The fact that solar can and is brought online so quickly at different scales, I regard that as a very positive thing,” MnSEIA’s Moberg said. “If America needs more power, and we do, this is the cheapest way to get it.”
Moberg regards the Anoka-Ramsey Landfill pilot project as “closer to a big deal than it isn’t,” a possible impetus for new legislation and additional projects.
Someday at Flying Cloud Landfill, we may be powering the future on footprints of the past. But for now, it’s still wait-and-see.

Editor’s note: This story is the latest in an ongoing series called “Sustainability in Action.” The series spotlights sustainability efforts in Eden Prairie at various levels, from local government and businesses to community groups and residents. It includes a page dedicated to local, state, and national sustainability resources. This series has received support from a grant from the Eden Prairie Community Foundation. If you have an idea for this series, contact the editors.

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