Methane Power launches North Carolina landfill gas to energy project

11 November 2009

Renewable energy project developer Methane Power has commenced operations of a gas to energy project at a landfill in Durham County, North Carolina. The company has designed and installed a 3.3MW electricity generation plant at the site, which will generate electricity through methane disposal.

Prior to commencement of operations at the site, methane was being captured and destroyed at the site through flaring, but the Methane Power infrastructure will allow methane to be destroyed in engines, which generates renewable electricity. Methane is 21 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide.

Methane Power does not own or run the landfills from which the methane is collected. Instead, it buys the landfill gas rights, designs, installs and operates gas collection and treatment systems and electricity generating plants, and sells the end-products, being a combination of renewable energy, RECs and carbon credits, to end-users looking for alternative energy sources. James Voss, president and CEO, Methane Power, said, ‘We have a number of similar projects where we are utilising landfill gas to produce energy or, at a minimum, to destroy the methane in that gas and our geographic focus is on the Carolinas.’

Last week, the world’s largest landfill gas to liquefied natural gas facility was established in Livermore, California. The Waste Management Altamont Landfill and Resource Recovery Facility, developed by Waste Management, Linde-BOC and Gas Technology Institute, is designed to produce up to 13,000 gallons of liquefied natural gas a day.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: bioenergy, methane

This story was published on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 6:02 pm and is filed under North America, biomass/biofuel, companies. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Methane Power launches North Carolina landfill gas to energy project”

1. Paul McLachlan says:

   16 November 2009 at 12:21 pm

   Power from waste will be replicated in many regions and the need for a more efficient gaseous fuel energy conversion device is clear. the Pivotal engine has the fudamental characteristics to meet this need. It is the ideal gaseous fuel engine and will convert to a wide range of fuel blends. The Pivotal engine must be optimised to meet this application.

   Waste Management may be more commercially focussed than Linde BOC. We would like to talk with you.
   paul.mclachlan@pivotalengine.com

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