Landfills generate a cost-effective alternative - methane

When it comes to making electricity without high-polluting coal, oil or nuclear energy, trash is Delaware's reigning champion. The most widely used alternative fuel in the state comes from under the Cherry Island Landfill, where methane gas is pumped out of a huge trash mound by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority and burned in a Conectiv Inc. power generator in place of 15,000 tons of coal every year. Even though that accounts for less than one percent of the total amount of fuel used to make electricity in the state, officials say the landfill gas is a good example of how the state can use its limited resources to take small steps away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Solid-waste officials say they have plans to begin extracting methane gas from landfills in Kent and Sussex counties as well in the next two years. A state panel of energy experts has been studying ways to increase the use of alternative fuels for the last year and next month is expected to give Gov. Ruth Ann Minner a detailed report outlining its recommendations. One suggestion may be to require electricity companies to produce a certain amount of their power from alternative sources, which would make methane more valuable, experts say. So far Delaware's record on alternative fuels is not good. Nationally, 84 percent of the energy consumed comes from fossil fuels, compared to more than 90 percent for Delaware, said Ralph Nigro, a consultant to Minner's energy task force. The state also doesn't have any hydroelectric plants, which are a major source of alternative power for many states in the West and New England. A New York company has proposed building a 1,100-megawatt wind farm in the ocean off Delaware's resort communities, but has not yet submitted any of the applications necessary to win government approval. Officials with the regional company that oversees wholesale electricity sales in Delaware and six other states said they have received no applications from private investors to build alternative fuel generators in the state. All of which means that, for now, landfill gas is the top alternative in Delaware for power generation, Nigro said. The Delaware Solid Waste Authority started pumping landfill gas, or methane, to Conectiv's Edgemoor plant in 1996. Federal regulations require that landfills collect the gas, and dispose of it. At most plants that is done by simply burning it off, which increases air pollution and causes a strong smell, said Robin Roddy, director of the Cherry Island landfill. Collecting the gas is also expensive because it requires a system of pipes and wells. The pipes at Cherry Island were laid by a private company that sells the gas to Conectiv. Business is so good that the company, Cereza Energy Inc., has added a new compressor and is putting in new, bigger pipes to collect more gas, company site manager Len Long said. "We're going to double our capacity," he said. The six-inch pipes that carry the gas travel about a mile north of the landfill to Conectiv's power plant. Although the gas costs a little more than coal, by burning methane, the company can cut down on the amount of air pollution it puts out every year, plant manager John V. Kutys said. And because methane burns cleaner than coal, the firm also saves on maintenance, he said. Conectiv can generate about five megawatts of electricity with the gas, or enough power to continuously serve about 5,000 homes, Kutys said. The solid waste authority's expansion plans for Kent and Sussex counties have attracted interest from the Delaware Electric Cooperative. Cooperative spokesman Rob Book said that he is hoping to generate enough electricity to supply between 7,000 and 9,000 homes. The nonprofit cooperative serves rural Kent and Sussex counties. Methane is not the best long-term alternative to fossil fuels or nuclear energy, Nigro said, but right now it is the most realistic because of the price. Landfills produce a limited amount of methane over their lifetime and the gas generates more pollution than solar and wind power, which are generally more costly, Nigro said. Those technologies, along with fuel cells, which produce electricity through chemical reactions inside a sealed, low-polluting chamber, are likely to overtake methane as the primary alternative fuel in Delaware, Nigro said. As the landfills age, however, they may be able to make up for the lost methane said Solid Waste Authority Chief Executive N.C. Vesuki: "In the long run we're looking at putting windmills on top of the landfills, and possibly solar panels." Reach Steven Church at 324-2786 or schurch@delawareonline.com.