Tapping the Power of Refuse

Tapping the Power of Refuse

Nov 15 - Indianapolis Business Journal

In a major expansion of "clean-energy" production that may cost less than purchasing electricity in the wholesale market, Indianapolis based Wabash Valley Power Association Inc. plans to begin construction by year-end on two landfill gas-to-electricity power plants.

The company also will buy, for $7 million, three landfill plants from Houston-based Waste Management Inc., including one at the Twin Bridges landfill in Hendricks County, according to records filed with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

That deal also includes acquiring Waste Management electric plants at Prairie View landfill in St. Joseph County and Deercroft Landfill in LaPorte County.

Wabash Valley this month plans to begin construction of a 3.2megawatt plant at Liberty Landfill in White County and one at Jay County Landfill by the end of December.

Besides the 19 megawatts of electricity from the five plants, Wabash Valley plans to generate up to 13 more megawatts through additional landfill plants to be built over the next several years.

With the typical home consuming about 1,000 watts of energy, 19 megawatts would supply 19,000 homes.

Wabash Valley already operates two landfill power plants: one at the Twin Bridges in Danville and another at Oak Ridge landfill in Logansport.

With the latest deals, "We'll have seven of these plants in Indiana," said Keith Thompson, manager of power system operations at Wabash Valley.

The company sells electricity to 22 rural electric membership corporations in Indiana, including Boone REMC, Hendricks Power Cooperative and Central Indiana Power in Greenfield.

Unlike typical Indiana power plants that burn coal, landfill gas- to electricity city units bum methane. Decomposing garbage forms the gas. Ordinarily, landfill methane escapes into the atmosphere or is burned off-essentially wasted.

But at landfill electric plants, the gas is collected through a series of well pipes sunk deep into the ground. The methane is filtered and compressed, then burned by engines that turn electric generators.

Wabash Valley plans to order engine generators built at Caterpillar Inc.'s Lafayette plant. Each landfill facility will use four, 800-kilowatt generators with total output of 3.2 megawatts.

By comparison, Wabash Valley gets about 156 megawatts from PSI Energy's Gibson Station Unit No. 5, a coal-fired plant in which Wabash has a 25-percent ownership stake.

The IURC approved Wabash's landfill expansion plans Sept. 29. It cited testimony from the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, saying the plants should give Wabash's supply "muchneeded diversity in a least-costly manner consistent with the public's interest."

Wabash's landfill electric generation "certainly is going to be no more expensive than any other option and it may have cost advantages," said Tony Dzwonar, a spokesman for the OUCC

Wabash now has "a substantial reliance on contracts for purchase power," the OUCC said.

Wabash plans to invest $1.5 million to upgrade the Waste Management landfill power plants. The company estimated the five new plants it wants to build over the next several years will cost $20 million and generate a total 16 megawatts. With power demand growing, Wabash said it needs another 110 megawatts-either from its plants or through purchases-in 2005.

Thompson said the utility was looking at any number of landfill locations in Indiana. Electricity generated will be supplied directly to the local distribution system near a plant, rather than put on the transmission grid.