Nov 02 - The Journal - Newcastle-upon-Tyne

A massive rubbish dump in Northumberland is proving to be a major source of power generation as more and more of the landfill gas it produces is turned into electricity.

Waste management company SITA UK is set to install a fifth electricity generating plant at the Seghill site near Cramlington to harness its waste gas and sell the resultant 'green' power to the national grid.

The four generating units already installed are producing enough electricity to heat and light several thousand homes, as part of the nationwide drive to use more renewable energy and protect the environment.

Next week, county council planners are expected to approve SITA's application for a fifth unit on the site, where municipal waste has been buried for more than 40 years. It would bring the total generating capacity to five megawatts.

The company says the site is producing more landfill gas - a combination of methane and carbon dioxide - than the existing generating plants can cope with.

The extra generating capacity will reduce the need to flare, or burn off, gas to prevent it from building up and potentially creating a health hazard.

Permission was granted for the first two electricity generation plants at Seghill in 1996, and two others were installed in 2004 and 2006. Landfill gas, which is produced by decaying organic waste, is mainly made up of methane, a potent greenhouse gas which is regarded as a key contributor to global climate change.

A report to next week's county council planning and regulation committee says gas produced at the Seghill landfill site has continued to increase and SITA now wants permission for a fifth electricity plant to tap into the valuable resource.

The new power generation plan comes as a controversial bid by SITA to double the capacity of the Seghill site and continue dumping until 2022 is being analysed by Northumberland County Council and North Tyneside Council.

Last night, SITA said the five generating plants would produce enough electricity each year to power more than 12,500 homes. Tim Otley, general manager of SITA Power, said: "This scheme is a great way of creating energy from a resource that would otherwise be wasted. The power we generate is exported directly to the local grid."

(c) 2007 The Journal - Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.