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Waste Management wants to build a turbine plant and sell the electricity produced. |
By RUSTY DENNEN
Gases wafting from the King George Landfill have been little more than a smelly byproduct of municipal waste disposal.
But a plan in the works aims to harness the energy to fuel a power plant that would put some extra money in the pockets of the county and the company while helping the environment.
Waste Management Inc., operator of the region's largest landfill, recently unveiled its plan to county supervisors. Zoning for the plant is already in place; all that's needed from the county are building permits.
Meanwhile, Waste Management has applied for air pollution control permits from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
Rick Guidry, the landfill's district manager, said the company hopes to have the power plant in operation within two years.
Gas from the landfill would drive turbines to create electricity that would be sold on the open market. Guidry estimates that the plant would use all of the gas now produced--about 4,400 cubic feet per minute. That amount will grow with the landfill.
The power plant would generate about 9.3 mega-watts--enough to power about 10,000 homes.
As electric producers go, it's small. By comparison, each of the two nuclear reactors at Dominion's North Anna Power Station in Louisa County produce about 900 megawatts.
For now, the landfill gas is simply "flared off"--burned at pipes at collection points.
Waste Management has three plants of similar design operating in Virginia, with a fourth to come online in June, Guidry said. Those are in Hampton, and Charles City, Amelia and Sussex counties.
Guidry said it's a plus for the company and the county, which will receive 10 percent of the revenue generated. Guidry said he does not know how much the plant will cost.
"From my perspective, it's a good project. Right now, we're burning off energy that's unused. This is renewable energy that people want to see," he said.
Similar plants have sprung up at landfills across the nation as prices for fuels such as oil and natural gas have risen sharply.
Waste Management has more than 30 landfill-gas turbine plants operating around the country.
Landfills produce great amounts of gases--mostly carbon dioxide and methane. Those can be problematic for neighbors because they are also infused with other gases which have a distinctive rotten-egg odor at times.
County Administrator Bryan David said the supervisors support the proposal and that Waste Management would be fulfilling a pledge to make more efficient use of the gases.
Two years ago the nearby Birchwood Power Facility--a coal-fired generating plant near the landfill--proposed mixing landfill gas with coal to fire its boilers.
That never came to fruition and the county began talking with Waste Management about an alternate plan.
David said the plant would be enclosed in a masonry building near the landfill's methane-collection site.
"The Board realizes that taking this byproduct of the landfill and putting it to beneficial use closes the loop on this waste and provides energy."
Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431| USING LANDFILL GAS
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 425 landfill gas projects were operating as of 2006.
Those consumed about 230 million cubic feet of gas per day, generating approximately 10 billion kilowatt hours
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