California Company Considers Tapping Superior Landfill for Energy

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): A Berkeley, CA company could investigate the potential to turn gas into energy at the Superior landfill. The Public Works Committee approved signing a letter of intent with Vespene Energy Inc. on Thursday, April 6 to allow the California-based company to explore the possibility of utilizing gases generated at the landfill to convert into energy for custom-designed, self-sustaining microgrids used for online data processing or cryptocurrency mining.

The council will consider the proposal on April 18. Vespene Energy’s model appears to get around those issues, according to a memo that will be presented to the council. Rather than selling the energy to the grid, electricity is used on-site. “Right now, we just flare off our gas and burn the gas to convert methane to CO2 (carbon dioxide) because the green house gas is not as bad, but it’s not great,” said Darienne McNamara, landfill manager. She said methane “can be converted to compressed natural gas … which can be used to run generators and sold back to the grid.”

However, the landfill’s isolated location makes it very expensive to do those things, McNamara said. The city has explored gas-to-energy projects in the past, but all have shared common obstacles. The landfill is more than a mile from the nearest gas pipeline or shared power line, making it very expensive to get energy to users. “What Vespene Energy does is use the gas to power equipment on-site,” McNamara said.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantagemag.com