Aug 31 - Daily News; Los Angeles, Calif.

On a few acres off Bel Aire Drive in Burbank, an experiment in "green power" is unfolding.

Eleven micro-turbine jet engines the size of basketballs are spinning generators for power for 100 homes. The engines are fed a unique diet - methane gas diverted from the city's landfill.

Burbank has become among the latest California cities to use landfill methane to power micro-turbines.

"It's very environmentally friendly," said Rick Owen, a combustion turbine specialist with Burbank Water and Power. "It's considered what they call 'green energy.'"

Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the turbines run on an automated system, from a flare station on Bel Aire.

Pipes laid out in the landfill collect the methane gas - a byproduct of the waste - and carry it to the flare station. There, the gas is filtered and compressed. The filtered gas is sent through pipes to fuel 10 300-kilowatt Capstone turbines, and one 250- kilowatt Ingersoll-Rand turbine.

The turbines spin generators, which provide electricity.

"I think it's a huge step," said Burbank Vice Mayor Todd Campbell, who is also the policy director for the advocacy group Coalition For Clean Air. "This turns an unfortunate necessity of society into something that can positively benefit our society."

Campbell said the project goes a long way toward fulfilling the city's goal of using 20 percent renewable energy by 2017. He said the project also helps cut down the city's reliance on expensive fossil fuels.

Burbank got a $450,000 grant from the California Energy Commission for the Ingersoll turbine as an incentive. The city is paying $90,000 for one year for operations and maintenance costs for the other turbines with Long Beach-based SCS Energy.

The project helps offset the high costs for electricity at a time when the city is struggling to get its $243 million Magnolia Power Project online. A defective turning gear has delayed Magnolia's opening and has forced the city to spend about $1 million more a month buying electricity during peak times.

Once it goes online, Magnolia is expected to power 55,000 homes and businesses in Burbank, and 195,000 homes and businesses in Pasadena, Anaheim, Colton, Cerritos and Glendale.

Burbank officials are completing tests for the landfill methane- fueled turbine project. They hope that in a few months they can expand it to power 500 homes.

"It's not a lot," said Owen, a former gas turbine instructor for a Houston firm. "But it will help out."

Jason Kandel, (818) 546-3306

jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com