Landfill-Gas-to-Energy Projects Take Off in U.S.

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--As the use of renewable and alternative sources of energy becomes more prevalent, various forms of more environmentally friendly types of power generation are becoming increasingly common. Windfarms are springing up in rural locations throughout the U.S., while solar power is becoming an increasingly economic and viable way to generate energy. Another form of alternative energy generation is the conversion of landfill gas to energy. While Industrial Info saw only a handful of project starts in this area last year, 20 large landfill-gas-to-energy projects with a combined total investment value of more than $490 million are currently set to begin construction this year in the U.S.

Half of these projects have estimated total investment values of $10 million or less, while a few significantly larger projects shine through. The City of San Angelo, Texas, for example, stands out for its construction of a 14-megawatt (MW) grassroot waste-to-energy plant. Unlike many other landfill-based power plants, the power plant in San Angelo will not only be equipped to capture methane from the landfill, but will also be able to gasify waste biomass. The methane will power an internal combustion engine/generator, and waste heat will drive a steam turbine to supply renewable energy to the local power grid. Construction of the estimated $150 million project is scheduled to kick off this summer and will be completed in phases from the spring of 2010 through 2011.

On a somewhat smaller scale, cement manufacturer Lafarge North America Incorporated (Herndon, Virginia), the U.S. subsidiary of Lafarge SA (OTC:LFRGY) (Paris, France) is currently installing a pipeline to transport methane from a nearby landfill to its 700,000-ton-per-year cement plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The company's $4 million investment in the project, which is scheduled to wrap up construction in August of this year, will eliminate the use of 450,000 tons of coal per year that is currently used as fuel at the plant. In April of this year, a similar project was completed at Lafarge's cement plant in Sugar Creek, Missouri, reducing coal use at the plant by 20% and eliminating approximately 33,000 tons per year of carbon-dioxide emissions.

While many of the landfill-gas-to-energy projects may consist of the generation of a few megawatts of electricity, the Ridgewood power plant in Johnston, Rhode Island, is definitely taking this method of power generation to the next level. At the existing 26-MW landfill-gas-to-energy plant, Ridgewood Renewable Power LLC (Ridgewood, New Jersey) will be replacing 15 internal combustion engines at the facility with five Solar Taurus 60 gas turbines, heat recovery steam generators and a single steam turbine to increase generation capacity to 41 MW, an extremely high capacity for energy derived by this means.

The landfill-gas-to-energy boom seems to be well under way in the U.S., with 2009 marking a sharp increase in the number of this type of project. Detailed information on these projects can be found in Industrial Info's North American Industrial Database, as well as IIR's newly added Renewables Tracker.

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Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news.