Waste-to-energy plant in Newport News closer to reality

Aug 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Joe Lawlor Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)

A waste-to-energy plant that would generate power from food and yard waste is another step closer to being built in Newport News.

This spring, the city received an unsolicited proposal from Quasar Energy Group of Cleveland to build an anaerobic digester facility in Newport News that would accept the waste and produce biogas.

The city advertised for other companies to bid on the project, but none did so.

Reed Fowler, the city's public works director, said officials are working on a contract proposal with Quasar that would go before the City Council in September.

"I have been researching this and I have not yet found any disadvantages," Fowler said. "We're super excited."

City Manager Neil Morgan said while financial information in the proposal can't be disclosed until the contract is ready to go before City Council, the project will likely be to the city's financial advantage. The energy produced by Quasar would reduce the city's power bill significantly, he said.

"The reasons for doing it is because No. 1 it's good for the environment, and No. 2, it's in our financial interest," Morgan said. "I'm favorably inclined to move forward."

Morgan has previously said that the Denbigh composting facility is a possible location for the anaerobic digester, which would cost a few million dollars to construct.

Fowler said the biogas could be used not only to power buildings, but also as compressed natural gas fuel for vehicles. It could also be turned into a liquid fertilizer to be sold to the public.

While many details still have to be determined, Fowler said he envisions businesses from all over the Peninsula dropping off food waste at the plant. Fowler said it should be less expensive to bring food waste and fats, oils and grease waste to Newport News than trucking it to Waverly, even if the city charges tipping fees.

Whether the city or Quasar Energy Group would own the digester has yet to be determined, officials said.

But Fowler said the plant could be built quickly, possibly within three months after the contract is awarded.

Jeff Kuklica, mid-Atlantic project developer for Quasar, said it's a winning concept, and it has taken off in Ohio, where six Quasar digesters are located. Kuklica said in Germany about 5,000 digesters are in use.

"There's enough organic waste to operate 1,000 digesters in Virginia," Kuklica said.

Kuklica, who is based in Virginia Beach, said he heard last year that Newport News was interested in producing energy from food waste, so he thought the city would be a good place to start in the state. Kuklica said he's not aware of any municipal anaerobic digesters in Virginia of the kind that would be in Newport News.

"We feel like it will be a magnet for other communities," Kuklica said. "People will want to come see it and see what it can do."

Fowler said eventually the city could operate a food waste residential pickup, where residents would put out a bin next to their garbage and recycling bins, but that's several years in the future, if it happens. But Fowler said in 2013, the city may start requiring residents to place their yard waste in paper bags to go to the digester. The fall loose leaf collection would not be affected.

Currently, yard waste that's not part of the fall loose leaf collecton is placed in plastic bags at the curb and hauled to the landfill.

Waste-to-energy plant in Newport News

Newport News is considering an anaerobic digester waste-to-energy plant that may be located at the Denbigh composting facility. The city is working on a contract with Ohio's Quasar Energy Group, which would generate biogas power from food and yard waste and fats, oils and greases. The contract could go before the City Council in September.