Waste Connections Developing Landfill Gas-to-Energy Plant in Colorado

Date: August 22, 2011

Source: News Room

Waste Connections, Inc. (Folsom, CA) is set to begin operating a landfill gas-to-energy plant that will utilize gas from its two landfills in Erie, Colo. to generate 4.8 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power 3,300 area homes. The company has teamed with Landfill Energy Services to build the gas-to-energy facility which has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Brighton, Colo.-based electric cooperative United Power to buy the electricity. The plant will employ two Caterpillar 3516 engines to convert about 1,200 cubic feet of methane per minute into electric power. Erie spokesman Fred Diehl said capturing the methane at both landfills is the equivalent of offsetting 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide that might otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

According to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, there are 558 landfills nationwide that capture methane to produce heat or power, but Colorado has only one -- the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site in Aurora. EPA lists 12 landfills in the state that are candidates for some kind of gas-to-energy system.

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