Worcester County Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project

» See our response to public comments on this project

The Worcester County Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project is a three-phased project at the solid waste landfill that serves the communities in Worcester County, MD. The project reduces 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 Gas to Energy project is currently under construction, with startup scheduled in June, 2008. The project is ultimately designed to handle 2,200 standard cubic feet per minute of landfill gas, but will be phased in over time. At startup, the project will feature a single Waukesha 1MW reciprocating engine generator and an enclosed flare to combust any gas collected in excess of the generator’s capacity. A second generator is planned for later in 2008, and a third in 2009.

TerraPass funds would ensure a financial return for the project sufficient to attract investors needed to finance the project. When TerraPass began discussions regarding this project, the financing necessary to ensure development of the full project had not been obtained and our conversations helped provide confidence in carbon-related income so that investors could rely on it as part of the project’s returns.

Project details

The Worcester County Central Landfill Facility (CLF) is a small municipal landfill located in Newark, MD and operated by the Worcester County Department of Public Works. The CLF is an active landfill and currently accepts degradable and non-degradable waste as well as material for a popular recycling program. Open since 1990, the CLF sits on approximately 200 acres within a 725-acre property. Its design capacity is 3.6 million tons of waste within eight lined cells. Five cells are currently constructed, including one for construction and demolition waste only. Of the four degradable waste cells, three have reached final elevation and one is currently accepting waste. To conserve land and delay or prevent the need to open additional waste cells, Worcester County has implemented a leachate recirculating system which applies leachate to waste cells in dry weather to speed decomposition of organic waste. With such a system, a cell which has reached final elevation can be re-opened in later years after decomposition of the organic waste. Non-degradable waste can also be recovered at that time and recycled as technologies allow. The CLF’s first waste cell, Cell 1, closed in 1997 and the county may begin such a recovery operation in the next two years.

A unique feature of this project’s design is its use of old leachate recharge wells as part of the gas collection system. This new collection system will replace a small number of passive gas vents with auto-ignition pilot lights installed about five years ago in Cells 1 and 2. In addition to the generators and the new enclosed flare, the project requires the installation of additional gas collection wells, piping, blowers, metering devices and equipment to de-water and clean the gas before feeding it to the electricity generators. The project’s objective is to route as much gas as possible to the generators, sending only overflow gas to the flare.

The project is being developed by Curtis Engine and Equipment, Inc, in cooperation with Worcester County. Curtis Engine has developed several LFGE projects including a similar project in nearby Prince George’s County.

Project location

The Central Landfill Facility is located in Newark, Maryland about 15 miles southwest of Ocean City.

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Other social and environmental benefits and costs

Environmental benefits

• Reduced emissions of volatile organic compounds from the landfill.
• Prevention of odor in surrounding areas.

Social and public economic benefits * The project used local contractors during construction. * The project will create one full-time job. * The County of Worcester will receive royalty payments for the landfill gas. * The project will increase the quantity of renewable electricity fed to the electricity grid.

Project’s ability to foster further greenhouse gas emission reductions

• Most landfills considered economically viable candidates for gas-to-energy facilities already have gas collection systems installed. In this case, only minimal gas collection capability is already installed. The project’s use of old leachate wells, and its early consideration of carbon offsets, could serve as a role model for other landfills previously considered unattractive for such projects.

Project’s environmental and social costs

• The project requires a construction effort and its attendant fossil fuel use, as well as the manufacture of generators, a flare, and gas processing equipment along with associated consumption of energy intensive goods such as concrete and steel.
• The project’s engines and flare will emit criteria air pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen, and will be permitted sources of air pollution.
• Developing renewable energy from landfill gas could change some individual’s waste disposal practices, such that they are less likely to be attentive to recycling and composting efforts.

Discussion of appropriate use of TerraPass funds

The project is a good candidate for TerraPass funds as carbon revenues were a decisive factor in helping this project significantly and permanently reduces greenhouse emissions by achieving financial returns sufficient to attract investors.

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

Baseline conditions

Before the initiation of this project, Worcester County managed its landfill gas through regular monitoring at the surface and in the soils, and as required by its permits. Passive vents to route a limited quantity of landfill gas to surface flares were installed in 2002 when Cell 2 stopped accepting waste. A total of nine vents were installed (five in Cell 1, four in Cell 2). This compares to the Project which will use approximately 20 wells in each cell, and which will have blowers which pull the gas upward and toward the generator inlet and will therefore capture significantly more gas.

Additionality

No regulatory requirements. There are no state, federal, or local regulations which require the County to install this landfill gas-to-energy project. The landfill’s organic compound emissions are not large enough to require a landfill gas collection system per the US Clean Air Act, nor any state-level requirement. The County is required to ensure that landfill odors do not become a nuisance at the property line, and that methane buildup does not exceed explosive limits. If the passive vent system was installed to address these requirements, carbon credits will be adjusted accordingly.

Barriers to implementation. There are no important technical or regulatory barriers to the implementation of this project. However, there is evidence of barriers to investment. First, the County initially considered a landfill gas-to-energy project six years ago, but could not secure a partner willing to invest in the collection system based on the available returns (which did not include carbon offset revenue). The County was disinclined to take on the risks and responsibilities of such a project as a public agency without a partner, so the project did not proceed. Second, in this current iteration of the project, the County’s selected partner (Curtis Engine) conducted detailed gas flow and economic modeling based on the price of electricity, and found that the project was viable and attractive only with the additional revenue stream available from carbon offset funding.

Impact of TerraPass funds. A review of the project’s economic modeling prior to operation showed clear expected carbon offset revenues at the time of launch, and the magnitude of carbon offset revenues significantly contributes to making the project economically feasible to investors compared with investment alternatives. As noted above, TerraPass’ timely involvement in this project helped solidify the carbon offset revenue in the minds of potential funders, who were otherwise skeptical of offsets as a dependable source of project income.

Better than most. TerraPass seeks projects where the operations have shown good practices and avoided substantial negative impacts. Records review shows the Worcester County landfill to be a well-run community solid waste facility, and Curtis Engine has a positive track record in landfill gas-to-energy developments.