WEC to Develop Renewable Generation and Landfill

Washington Electric Cooperative (WEC) announced that it intends to develop a renewable energy project. The Co-op will build a plant that will generate electricity from the landfill gas (LFG) being produced and collected at the state’s largest landfill in Coventry, Vermont. The landfill is owned and operated by New England Waste Services of Vermont (NEWSV), a wholly owned subsidiary of Casella Waste Systems of Rutland.
The project will be a source of long-term, affordable, stable and predictably priced renewable baseload power, and is expected to meet a significant portion of the electricity needs of the Co-op’s member/consumers for up to 30 years. The facility is expected to begin generating in 2005.
In its initial stages, the project will generate approximately 3.2 megawatts (MW), equivalent to the amount of energy the WEC was purchasing from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant up until February 2002. It will replace and supplement power that WEC has already been purchasing from a landfill gas facility in Connecticut since the expiration of the Vermont Yankee supply, a contract that will expire at the end of 2004. Over time, the landfill is expected to create enough gas to generate up to 6 MW. WEC projects that its net cost of power will be less than 5 cents per kWh over thirty years, a cost that is equal to or better than current market costs and lower than other long-term options. A key benefit to WEC and its members is that the cost will be stable and predictable, and not subject to the volatility and unpredictability of fossil fuel and other market energy prices.
Landfill gas is methane produced by the natural decomposition of waste. Because methane is a harmful greenhouse gas, modern landfills such as the one in Coventry collect the gas and burn (flare) it, rather than letting the methane escape into the atmosphere. Using the gas to generate electricity has two important environmental benefits. It significantly reduces the air emissions at the landfill itself, compared to flaring. In addition, power from this project will offset the need for production and
environmental impacts from fossil fuel and other non-renewable generators from which WEC would otherwise need to procure power.
Although the project will supply WEC members with a major portion of their energy needs, it is actually a very small project compared to most types of electric generation. It will involve construction of a building on the landfill itself, sized to house generators capable of producing up to 6 MW of power, as well as a single pole line connecting to a nearby VELCO substation.
In a report in Washington Electric’s membership newsletter, the Co-op’s General Manager Avram Patt and Board President Barry Bernstein write: “ The Coventry landfill gas project is a major step for us… As Co-op members, you presently have more renewable energy in your supply than perhaps any other utility customers in the country today. With this project, we will be able to maintain and increase our renewable energy supply for many years to come, at an affordable cost.”
A number of regulatory and other approvals must all be in place before the project can be built. WEC will be seeking a Certificate of Public Good from the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB), which will review economic, environmental and other aspects of the project in making its decision. The project will also need an Air Quality Permit. WEC is seeking financing approval for the $6.345 million dollar project from its principle lender, the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), and will also need a vote of its members as required by Vermont law, once the PSB has issued its Certificate. NEWSV and Casella are presently in the process of seeking a Solid Waste Permit and Act 250 approval for a proposed expansion of the Coventry landfill.