Washington Electric Co-op (WEC) has produced a video tour of its landfill methane generating plant in Coventry, Vermont. The ten minute video was recorded during an open house held at the plant on November 4, 2009, and follows the tour actually given to visitors on that day.
Read all about landfill methane and take the tour below the fold.
The Coventry plant is located at Vermont’s largest landfill, which is owned and operated by New England Waste Services of Vermont (an affiliate of Casella Waste Systems). The facility began generating electricity in July 2005 and was subsequently been expanded in 2007 and 2009 to its present generating capacity of 8 megawatts. It is now generating over two-thirds of all the electricity used by WEC’s members and is expected to be an economical and stably priced source of energy for the Co-op for many years.
In addition to the Coventry plant, Washington Electric Co-op gets power from a number of small local renewable facilities including its own Wrightsville Hydro Station, as well as from the large hydro facilities of Hydro Quebec and the New York Power Authority. WEC also expects to begin receiving a portion of the output from First Wind’s project in Sheffield VT, which has received approval from the Vermont Public Service Board. WEC has no power supply commitments from fossil fuel or nuclear sources.
The tour takes ten minutes:
Landfill gas has become an increasingly popular form of energy generation, because it makes use of existing resources without additional environmental impact, and displaces other forms of non-renewable generation.
Among the different types of renewable energy, it has a number of very attractive characteristics. First of all, it's usually much cheaper than other renewable energy sources. The primary advantage of landfill gas generation is that it is baseload power. (A baseload power plant is an electric generation plant that is expected to operate in most hours of the year.) Most forms of renewable generation, e.g. wind, solar, and even small hydro, are intermittent sources in that they don't generate all the time, and/or their output fluctuates even when it is generating. Baseload plants are typically fossil fuel (coal, natural gas), nuclear, or large hydro. Among renewable resources, biomass, landfill and farm methane are baseload, and to an electric utility, have the same profile as a nuclear or coal plant (except much, much smaller....)
The Environmental Protection Agency has been promoting electric generation (and other energy uses) for landfill gas for a number of years. The EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program website has pretty much everything you'd want to know on the subject, for starters anyway. It has a database showing all the nation's landfills, which have energy plants (hundreds now) and which may have potential.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) is a voluntary assistance program that helps to reduce methane emissions from landfills by encouraging the recovery and beneficial use of landfill gas (LFG) as an energy resource. LFG contains methane, a potent greenhouse gas that can be captured and used to fuel power plants, manufacturing facilities, vehicles, homes, and more. By joining LMOP, companies, state agencies, organizations, landfills, and communities gain access to a vast network of industry experts and practitioners, as well as to various technical and marketing resources that can help with LFG energy project development.
The BASIC INFORMATION page is an easy, quick read. An excerpt:
Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are the second–largest source of human–related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for approximately 23 percent of these emissions in 2007. At the same time, methane emissions from landfills represent a lost opportunity to capture and use a significant energy resource. LFG is created as solid waste decomposes in a landfill. This gas consists of about 50 percent methane (the primary component of natural gas), about 50 percent carbon dioxide (CO2), and a small amount of non–methane organic compounds.
...
Instead of escaping into the air, LFG can be captured, converted, and used as an energy source. Using LFG helps to reduce odors and other hazards associated with LFG emissions, and it helps prevent methane from migrating into the atmosphere and contributing to local smog and global climate change.
LFG is extracted from landfills using a series of wells and a blower/flare (or vacuum) system. This system directs the collected gas to a central point where it can be processed and treated depending upon the ultimate use for the gas. From this point, the gas can be flared, used to generate electricity, replace fossil fuels in industrial and manufacturing operations, or upgraded to pipeline–quality gas where the gas may be used directly or processed into an alternative vehicle fuel.
...
* Projects help destroy methane, a potent heat-trapping gas.
* Projects generate renewable energy and offset the use of non-renewable resources such as coal, natural gas, and oil.
* There are many cost–effective options for reducing methane emissions while generating energy.
* Projects help reduce local air pollution.
* Projects create jobs, revenues, and cost savings.
...
LFG emitted from decomposing garbage is a reliable and renewable fuel option that remains largely untapped at many landfills across the United States, despite its many benefits. Generating energy from LFG creates a number of environmental benefits.
Hope you enjoy the video tour!