July 10, 2014 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Seattle's trash will soon generate even more clean energy for Seattle City Light customers. Waste Management is doubling the generating capacity of its Columbia Ridge landfill gas power plant in Oregon and Seattle City Light will buy all the electricity it produces, maximizing waste as a resource to find new, alternative energy in a sustainable way.

Columbia Ridge in Oregon. Credit: Seattle.gov

Seattle Public Utilities ships Seattle's garbage to Columbia Ridge for disposal. Since 2009, Waste Management has captured the methane created by the decaying garbage and used it to fuel a power plant on site. City Light then purchases the electricity that is produced and uses it to help power the more than 400,000 homes and businesses it serves.

Currently, Columbia Ridge has the capacity to generate 6.4 MW of electricity. The expansion is expected to be ready for commercial operation in August with a new capacity of 12.8 MW.

"Adding the increased generation from Columbia Ridge to our energy portfolio helps us meet our customers' electricity needs, continue our status as a carbon-neutral utility and meet the new renewable energy goals of Initiative 937," City Light General Manager and CEO Jorge Carrasco said. "Opportunities like this are how we limit our environmental impact while delivering reliable electricity to our customer-owners at some of the lowest prices in the country."

City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005 -- the first electric utility in the nation to achieve such status.

For more:
- see this fact sheet

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http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/one-utilitys-trash-anothers-treasure/2014-07-10