Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority (2008 and beyond)

» See our response to public comments on this project

The “Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority Landfill Flaring and Gas-to-Energy Project” is a two-phased project at the solid waste landfill that serves the communities in Lebanon County, PA. The project benefits climate change strategies by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases (methane) that would otherwise be released from the landfill. The methane is destroyed by combustion in generators or in an enclosed flare.

The project’s first part is a landfill gas capture and flaring operation that came online in July 2002. The second part is a larger landfill gas-to-energy project that came online in September, 2007. The gas-to-energy project consists of gas wells, piping, two 1.6-MW generators, the flare (now for backup purposes), and a Renewable Energy Education Center.

TerraPass funds would ensure a financial return for the flaring operation (carbon credits are its only revenue opportunity), and substantively improve the gas-to-energy project’s economics. In addition, TerraPass funding could make capital available to pursue project expansions such as beneficial use of waste heat from the generators. This project meets the Chicago Climate Exchange offset standards; applicability of other offset standards is under review.

Project details

Gas capture at the GLRA landfill has occurred in several phases. In the 1980s, a gas-to-energy facility was established by an energy partner at an active section of the landfill which has since been closed. This facility’s permit did not allow expansion, so while the landfill’s methane production grew through the 1990s, the methane destruction capacity did not.

In 2002, the GLRA installed an enclosed flare to destroy excess gas that the energy facility could not accommodate. This flare ran continuously for approximately five years, during which time the GLRA also invested in gas collection piping in its active landfill areas so that gas could be routed to the flare as the waste started its decomposition.

The early landfill gas-to-energy project reached the end of its life and was closed in the spring of 2007. The carbon crediting standards consider longstanding projects like this as part of the project’s baseline — ordinary operations — so the gas volume historically captured by the early facility is subtracted from the volume captured today when greenhouse gas emission reductions are calculated.

Improvements in landfill gas capture technologies and landfill gas-to-energy generation equipment, the growing demand for renewable energy, and the growing markets for carbon credits, all led the GLRA board to invest in a new, larger, and more optimized gas capture and energy project. This project was built with the help of a gas-to-energy partner who shared the capital investment and who benefits by selling the renewable electricity.

The GLRA’s capital investment is expected to be repaid via carbon credit revenue and the sale of its landfill gas to the energy partner.

Project location

The project is located in Lebanon, Pennsylvania about 85 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

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Other environmental and social benefits

Environmental benefits

• Improvement in air quality (e.g., VOC reductions)
• Prevention of odor in surrounding areas

Social benefits

• Increased understanding of renewable energy in the local community. The GLRA and its energy partner are installing solar panels and a small wind turbine adjacent to the landfill gas generators, and the generator building includes a classroom where students of all ages can view real-time displays of the relative amounts of energy created by these three renewable energy sources.

Project’s ability to foster further greenhouse gas emissions reductions

• The GLRA has plans to enhance the project by reusing the waste heat from the generators to replace their fossil-fuel-based heating systems onsite.
• The GLRA staff participate in the US EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program, a program designed to encourage the capture and beneficial use of landfill methane. This project has a visible profile in the landfill gas community as it received a Community Partner of the Year award for 2007.

Discussion of appropriate use of TerraPass funds

TerraPass considers many aspects of projects before deciding whether to fund them. Here is a summary of key considerations for this project.

Baseline conditions

The GLRA’s early entry into landfill gas-to-energy development translates into a lower baseline emissions profile than landfills of similar size and age; some methane emissions have long been captured and destroyed at the landfill. As a result, the GLRA was familiar with gas-to-energy operations with partners. Unfortunately, this familiarity does not translate into economic benefits in the development of new projects; the early facility had reached the end of its useful life and entirely new investment was required.

The US EPA reports that of the 2,300 or so currently operating or recently closed US landfills, only about 400 have gas use projects, indicating that these projects are not standard practice in the industry.

Additionality

No regulatory requirements. GLRA operates a small landfill which is not required by state, federal, or local regulations to capture its methane emissions in any way. GLRA installed a flaring system to destroy the methane in 2002, in recognition of the climate change impacts of the methane emissions as well as mitigation of potential odors (though the facility did not have odor issues).

Then again, in 2007, GLRA changed their operations so as to capture a greater proportion of the landfill’s methane and generate electricity as well. Similar to the flare — which is now used only for backup purposes when the electric generators are down for repair — the methane capture and electricity generation project was entirely voluntary.

Impact of TerraPass funds. TerraPass seeks projects where the funding from our purchases helps assure a positive financial outlook on the greenhouse gas emission reduction project. This is important for two reasons: first, we want to be sure the project owner is encouraged to continue operating and investing in the project itself. Second, we want our projects to stand out as role models. Therefore we look favorably on projects that demonstrate new technologies, or are well-run and well-publicized, or which make it clear that a sensible financial return is possible.

The GLRA project is well-run and well-publicized within the local community and the landfill community (hence the EPA award); its financial model is also attractive to TerraPass. Carbon credits represent the only revenue stream available for the 2002 - 2007 flaring project. We believe establishing a small but reasonable return for this activity is important to encourage others to engage.

The 2007 energy project required considerably more investment. Some landfill-to-energy projects are structured to minimize risk to the public authority by shifting all investment and nearly all financial return to the energy developer; this project has a shared-risk model. The GLRA invested capital alongside their energy partner, and will receive the income from carbon credits. The project is in a position to return income back to the Authority for further investment without public funding. The GLRA’s near-term plans (funding decisions pending) include using waste heat from the generators to heat their buildings, replacing the non-renewable gas and further improving the carbon footprint.

Better than most. The GLRA landfill has a long and well-documented history of environmental responsibility; their onsite walking trail, the wetlands leachate treatment system, and their participation in avian surveys all evidence their ongoing commitment.

The greenhouse gas emission reduction projects show this same ethic. GLRA installed an enclosed flare in 2002, an expensive technology for landfill gas flaring. Enclosed flares are preferred by environmental regulators and carbon crediting methodologies because they can be more accurately monitored than open-flame flares and show higher methane destruction efficiencies.

The gas-to-energy facility’s focus on renewable energy education is extraordinary. Among those, the EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program in January 2008 recognized the Authority and its energy partner, PPL Renewable Energy, as Community Partners of the Year for their commitment to renewable energy education at the GLRA landfill.