Methane Power’s landfill gas plant to provide power to Duke Energy’s grid

17 December 2009

A new landfill gas-to-energy plant has been opened in Durham, North Carolina that will provide power to Duke Energy’s grid.

Built by the landfill gas project developer Methane Power, the energy plant is powered by three of power conglomerate General Electric’s Jenbacher landfill gas engines. The landfill gas engines are generating 3.17MW of renewable electricity for the regional grid from the landfill’s methane gas.

Electricity generated by the plant is being sold to Duke Energy Carolinas under a power purchase agreement.

North Carolina is one of 27 states with a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which requires that by 2021, utilities must meet 12.5 per cent of customers’ energy needs through energy efficiency savings or renewable energy production. The state also has a green power programme that offers incentives for renewable energy projects and the federal government is considering adoption of national RPS legislation to encourage the production of more renewable energy.

‘We believe that by enabling municipalities to tap into their unused, onsite landfill gas resources to generate electricity, we are supporting local green job development while helping utilities meet their regional renewable energy production requirements,’ said James Voss, president and CEO of Methane Power.

Nixon Energy Solutions delivered and installed the Jenbacher units for Methane Power’s Durham plant and will provide follow-up services, including parts and systems maintenance, for the operating life of the power plant.

Commissioned in October 2009, the Durham landfill gas project is the first of eight new US landfill gas plants that Methane Power plans to develop. The company has ordered three additional Jenbacher landfill gas engines to be installed at two other sites in North Carolina.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: waste energy, waste-to-energy

This story was published on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 11:46 am and is filed under North America, companies, energy efficiency. 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.

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