Date: April 6, 2009
Source: King County, Puget Sound Energy and Bio Energy-Washington
King County, PSE, and Bio Energy-Washington Teaming Up to Generate Green Energy From Landfill Gas
Methane From Cedar Hills Could Generate Enough Power for 24,000 Area Homes
King County, Puget Sound Energy and Bio Energy-Washington, a company that specializes in building landfill gas-to-energy systems, are joining forces to turn the public's garbage into natural gas – an innovation that will generate enough electricity to power an estimated 24,000 homes in the area while at the same time cutting greenhouse-gas emissions and creating green jobs.
This collaborative project will use the methane gas generated from decomposing garbage buried at the county's Cedar Hills Regional Landfill in Maple Valley, about 20 miles southeast of Seattle. Methane produced by the landfill will be collected, processed, and piped to Puget Sound Energy's natural gas-fired power plants.
"By partnering with Puget Sound Energy and Bio Energy-Washington, King County is fulfilling our commitment to a cleaner, greener future," said King County Executive Ron Sims after touring the facility today. "We are reducing carbon dioxide emissions roughly equal to taking 22,000 average passenger cars off the road each year, and we're creating a valuable commodity from what was previously considered a useless byproduct."
Kimberly Harris, executive vice president and chief resource officer for PSE, said, "We're going to use the landfill gas to light people's homes. This waste-to-energy project is an example of how we, as a society, can transform long-held practices into more environmentally sustainable actions."
There are more than 100 landfill-gas power projects today in the United States. The power PSE produces from Cedar Hills' methane – equivalent to the output of a modern, efficient 35-megawatt gas-fired power plant – will make Cedar Hills the third-largest landfill-gas energy project in the nation. Moreover, Cedar Hills will rank among the country's larger non-wind renewable-power projects.
Because the converted methane gas from the landfill replaces an equal amount of nonrenewable natural gas, the landfill gas-to-energy project will result in an overall reduction of emissions, including greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. This project translates into an estimated 63 percent reduction in the carbon footprint of the landfill.
A connecting line that runs between the landfill and the adjacent Northwest Pipeline – the region's main transmission supply line for natural gas – will transport the methane gas to PSE natural gas-fired power plants. PSE will use the methane – the primary component of commercial-grade natural gas – to generate an estimated 287,000 megawatt-hours of electricity annually, on average, enough to meet the entire power needs of 24,000 homes.
Bio Energy-Washington, a subsidiary of Richmond, Va.-based INGENCO, is building and operating the gas-to-energy facility at Cedar Hills, which includes the quarter-mile pipeline for shipping the processed landfill gas to Northwest Pipeline and on to PSE's natural gas-fired power plants.
The gas-processing plant includes a series of sequential steps which remove all the contaminants found in landfill gas. The end result is gas cleaner than natural gas recovered from conventional gas wells.
In addition to installing the equipment necessary to clean up the landfill gas, Bio Energy has installed proprietary equipment manufactured by INGENCO which will generate some of the facility's power needs from gas which would otherwise be wasted. This extra step will make this project one of the most efficient in the nation.
Bio Energy-Washington estimates that it will process and deliver to PSE at least 4.5 million cubic feet of methane daily from the county landfill. Deliveries are expected to average about 5.5 million cubic feet per day over 20 years.
Bio Energy-Washington expects to start delivery of the pipeline-quality gas to PSE by the end of April. PSE will purchase the gas from Bio Energy-Washington at a competitive price commensurate with regional wholesale prices.
This project will convert what had been an expense to King County into a valuable resource for the region and the county's solid-waste ratepayers. Revenues from gas sales will help offset other solid-waste expenses.
INGENCO, an industry leader in the design, construction, and operation of renewable energy facilities, is an expert in landfill-gas technology and currently operates 10 landfill-gas facilities nationwide, with three more under construction.
PSE has partnerships in other waste-to-energy projects in the Puget Sound region, including a landfill-gas power-production facility near Puyallup and King County's wastewater treatment plant in Renton, which delivers captured methane to PSE's natural gas system. Besides its waste-to-energy initiatives, PSE is the largest utility producer of renewable energy in the Pacific Northwest. The utility's two wind-power facilities in Eastern Washington generate enough electricity to meet the power needs of 100,000 households.
About Puget Sound Energy
Washington state's oldest and largest energy utility, with a 6,000-square-mile service area stretching across 11 counties, Puget Sound Energy serves more than 1 million electric customers and nearly 750,000 natural gas customers. PSE, a subsidiary of Puget Energy, meets the energy needs of its growing customer base primarily in Western Washington through incremental, cost-effective energy conservation, procurement of sustainable energy resources, and far-sighted investment in the energy-delivery infrastructure. PSE employees are dedicated to providing great customer service to deliver energy that is safe, reliable, reasonably priced, and environmentally responsible. For more information, visit PSE.com.
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Contact:
King County
Doug Williams, 206-296-8304
or
PSE
Roger Thompson, 888-831-7250
or
BEW
Dave Palumbo, 804-521-3535
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