SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 ISSUE
Producing Energy from Trash
Watauga County Edges Closer To Implementing Landfill Gas To Energy Project
For the past four years, a flame of methane gas at the Watauga County Landfill has catalyzed county staff, the ASU Energy Center and BREMCO to develop new technologies that will allow the implementation of a Gas To Energy project. The technology is now here and Watauga County is embarking on a project that will serve as a model for other counties of similar sizes. Photo by Sam Calhoun
Since 2005, a flare of methane gas has been burning at the Watauga County Landfill as a glowing reminder of the potential energy that could be harvested if the current collection system was hooked into a custom energy converter.
But the flare does not burn in vain—Watauga County, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation (BREMCO) and the ASU Energy Center have been hard at work for the past four years on a Landfill Gas To Energy project that would make use of the energy created from the methane gas collection system at the county’s closed landfill site in Boone.
Last week, the project reached a milestone when the Watauga County Board of Commissioners unanimously agreed to move the project forward by approving $200,000 in funding from the Watauga County Sanitation Department’s Retained Earnings Account. Watauga County Recycling Coordinator Lisa Doty’s initial estimates for the project’s budget total $189,020, and she hopes to pay back the county by applying for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or stimulus, grants through the N.C. Energy Office with help from the High Country Council of Governments.
The Project’s Significance
For many years, major metropolitan areas across the state and nation with large closed landfill sites have designed and implemented methane gas to energy projects, primarily because the technology to run such operations was readily available and financially feasible for sites that serve large population masses. That being said, the same technology, although helpful for the large sites, was too expensive and ill designed for small town landfills, such as Watauga County, thus very few methane gas to energy systems were developed.
Thanks to Watauga County, the ASU Energy Center and BREMCO, that status quo is about to change. The three partners have been tweaking and developing new and existing technologies for the project for the past four years and now have a plan that is inexpensive and feasible.
“What’s so exciting for us is that there are numerous small closed landfills across the state but no one’s figured out how to create one of these systems efficiently,” explained Doty. “Once we do this, it could be a model program for many other counties in North Carolina to use if we can make it work.”
Gas To Energy
“We’ve had an active [methane gas] collection system in place since 2005,” explained Doty. Since that time, the collected methane gas—which burns “very clean,” said Doty— has been emitted from the closed landfill site in the form of a flare. The Landfill Gas To Energy project will connect gas lines to that flare, which will then run to two generators and then connect to a switchgear. Currently, the ASU Energy Center is using grant money to design the switchgear for the project. Once the switchgear is designed and installed, it will transfer the energy from the generators into the BREMCO electric grid.
“[Watauga County and the ASU Energy Center] are responsible for getting the energy to the switchgear,” said Doty, “and BREMCO is responsible for getting it to the power lines.”
Doty estimated that the Watauga County closed landfill site contains between 10 and 15 years of methane gas collection left.
“This project will produce enough electricity to run all of the landfill,” she said. The Watauga County Landfill site includes a recycling center and bailing facility, a transfer station, a scale house, administrative offices and a maintenance shop. “And what we don’t use goes back into the grid,” added Doty.
Savings
“On paper this project looks good,” said Doty. “We’ve worked for many years to make this project financially feasible.”
According to Doty’s summary of costs, the total project budget is $189,020, but that number is currently dropping as Doty is researching formal price quotes—the original summary of costs only included informal price quotes.
“Basically, we don’t know if it will cost $200,000, but it probably won’t be more than that,” said Watauga County Manager Rocky Nelson. “The system, when operational, will generate savings and revenue in the $85,000 per year range.”
Currently, the Watauga County Sanitation Department pays approximately $36,000 per year in electric charges for all of the buildings at the landfill. The installation of the landfill gas generators will save the county the electric charge fee although it will still have to pay a basic usage fee of approximately $4,200 per year. Revenue from BREMCO to the county for the excess electricity generated—after all energy needed to run the landfill facilities is taken out—is estimated at approximately $85,000 per year. Therefore, the payback for the installation will take 2.5 to three years and, after that time, the excess revenue will be used to offset the operational costs of the Watauga County Sanitation Department.
In addition, by designing and installing a heat exchange system to utilize the waste heat from the generators to heat the new maintenance shop, the county could save approximately $5,000 in propane costs per year as well, said Doty.
Next Steps
Currently, Doty is researching formal price quotes for the project while going after stimulus grants. On September 18, Watauga County and the ASU Energy Center applied for a stimulus grant, with help from the High Country Council of Governments, which would pay for half of the project if awarded. Watauga County and the ASU Energy Center applied for the grant through the N.C. Energy Office and expect to hear a response within two to three weeks. If awarded, the project would have to be completed within six months, so work could begin soon if money is set aside.
At the October 13 regular meeting of the Watauga County Board of Commissioners, Doty plans to present a formal price summary of the project and update the commissioners and county of the grant application process.
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