JOHNSTON – Ridgewood Renewable Power LLC, an international energy company, plans to spend $80 million over the next two years to construct a state-of-the-art gas-to-electric power plant at the state Central Landfill, company executives and state officials announced today.
Ridgewood has been operating gas-to-electric facilities – converting the natural gas produced by decomposing garbage into energy – at the landfill since 1996. (READ MORE) The new plant will more than double the company’s on-site generating capacity, from 20 megawatts at present to 47.6 megawatts when the project is completed, probably in 2010.
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“We are extremely pleased to be making this investment here in Rhode Island,” Randall D. Holmes, Ridgewood’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “This facility will be one of the most efficient and clean landfill gas-to-electric systems in the world.”
No state money will be spent on the project. The agreement also provides a boost to the R.I. Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC), the quasi-public agency that operates the landfill, because it will allow the landfill to expand into some areas that are occupied by Ridgewood’s existing plants in Johnston, which are to be decommissioned after the new plant comes online.
“The agreement we have reached with Ridgewood not only allows the R.I. Resource Recovery Corporation to share in the financial benefits of the expansion,” RIRRC Executive Director Michael O’Connell said, “but it further allows the critical Phase VI expansion at the landfill to proceed without the costly burden of purchasing Ridgewood’s current facility.”
Although landfill gas lacks the glamour of solar or wind energy, harnessing it to produce electricity and heat is a form of renewable energy that experts say will be a part of any solution to mitigating the effects of climate change.
The natural gas produced by decomposing trash is rich in methane, a greenhouse gas that is more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The federal Energy Information Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, today announced that methane emissions from landfills increased by 2.5 percent in 2007 compared to the prior year.
Siphoning off landfill gas to produce electricity prevents it from being released into the atmosphere, and also reduces demand for energy from dirtier sources, such as coal. As of September, 456 such landfill power plants were operating nationwide, and an additional 530 landfills were considering adding one, EPA data show.
Ridgewood’s new plant will generate enough electricity to power about 38,000 homes. Over the next three decades, it will produce as much energy as burning nearly 3 million tons of coal, according to the company.
Ridgewood’s managing director, Stephen D. Galowitz, said a key reason the company decided to expand its operations here is Rhode Island’s renewable energy portfolio standard, which mandates that 15 percent of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2020.
Construction of the new plant will be done in three phases, starting next spring and continuing through 2010, the company said. The first phase will see the optimization of the gas collection system. The second phase will see the construction of the gas cleansing facility, and the third will see construction of the actual power plant. Ridgewood hopes to have the plant operational by late 2010.
The new facility will be the second-largest landfill-gas-to-electric power plant in the country, according to Ridgewood. The company expects to sell most of the electricity into the spot market, although some is purchased by National Grid until a long-term purchasing contract.
The Ridgewood, N.J.-based developer and power-plant operator currently employs 18 people in Rhode Island. It said it expects the construction phase of the project to provide jobs for 65 people and the commissioning phase to provide jobs for 25; the company added that is “committed to hiring qualified local residents.”
Gov. Donald L. Carcieri hailed the company and its plans.
“Ridgewood has proven to us over the years they are an experienced and qualified operator of gas-collection systems and a good corporate partner for Rhode Island,” the governor said in a statement today. “The investment they are making in technology will maximize gas collection at the site, allowing the landfill to substantially contribute to the state’s renewable portfolio standard.”
Ridgewood Renewable Power LLC – a member of the Ridgewood, N.J.-based Ridgewood Cos., along with Ridgewood Capital and Ridgewood Energy – focuses on renewable power generation and development, including biomass, hydroelectric and landfill-methane projects. Additional information is available at www.RidgewoodPower.com.
The R.I. Resource Recovery Corporation, manager of the state Central Landfill in Johnston, was created by the R.I. General Assembly in 1974 to provide environmentally sound programs and facilities for managing solid waste generated in Rhode Island. Additional information is available at www.rirrc.org.
Did the State put the project out to the highest bidder for our methane gas? Why not sell the old power plant to the highest bidder and keep it in operation? Just because you can get the most votes does not make you the best businessman. Every “deal” the state enters into just exemplifies why Rhode Island is in its poor financial condition.