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Mayor Justin Elicker of New Haven says with the White House cancelling billions in funds for solar and wind energy projects, and stopping projects like Revolution Wind in their tracks, it’s up to cities like his to provide environmental leadership.

The new project was announced this week and will see the installation of nearly 2,000 solar panels on top of the old, closed landfill. The solar field will be able to generate more than one megawatt of clean electricity.

Soon, a grassy hill in New Haven will be covered with more than 1,900 solar panels. The hill – a former landfill at New Haven’s transfer station – will transform into a solar farm over the next six months. The project not only gives unusable land new life. It will also increase electricity supply, which will be sold to United Illuminating at a fixed rate, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said.

The city’s old dump at 260 Middletown Ave. is getting one last load — not of garbage, but of 1,920 solar panels, set to top the capped landfill within six to eight months. The plans to begin work on the new solar farm were announced Tuesday afternoon by top city officials at a press conference next to the site. Mayor Justin Elicker, Office of Climate & Sustainability Executive Director Steven Winter, and Greenskies Clean Energy Vice President Ryan Linares all spoke at the event.