Ameresco and City of Santa Clara Unveil New Landfill Gas-to-Energy Plant
Groundbreaking Project Recycles Gas in Santa Clara Landfill
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Santa Clara and Ameresco today unveiled an innovative clean energy project that will capture and put to use gas created naturally at the city's closed municipal landfill.
Ameresco, the nation's largest independent energy solutions company, designed, built and owns the innovative system, which will generate 750 kW of green electricity per hour. The energy will come from gas created at the landfill through the decomposition of organic materials.
The electric output from the plant is being sold to Silicon Valley Power, the municipal electric utility for the city. The project will produce enough electricity to power more than 477 homes, while reducing emissions equivalent to the planting of nearly 996 acres of pine or fir forest, and will save approximately half a million gallons of gas annually.
"We are thrilled to be partnering with the City of Santa Clara on this innovative project that harnesses a naturally occurring resource into a valuable source of clean energy," said Michael Bakas, Vice President at Ameresco.
"Anytime we can turn waste into something useful we should take that opportunity, and this project is a perfect example," said Patricia M. Mahan, Mayor of the City of Santa Clara. "Our customers are very interested in green power. In fact, the City of Santa Clara is the third largest EPA Green Power community in the nation, and we are continuing to add renewable energy resources to our already extensive portfolio."
The decomposition of the organic material is captured and then consumed in three Ingersoll Rand MT250 microturbines to generate the electricity for Silicon Valley Power.
"Ingersoll Rand continues to focus on innovative solutions to create and sustain safe, comfortable and efficient environments. We are pleased that our 250kW microturbine met the criteria required to be included in this progressive project," said Brent Becker, General Manager of the Energy System business.
Since 1986, the City of Santa Clara has contracted to recover and convert landfill gas from its closed municipal landfill to generate electricity. The newly constructed Ameresco Landfill Gas-to-Energy project is an important part of the City Council's continuing commitment to develop sustainable, renewable energy and green power sources for the Santa Clara community and its electric utility customers.
Ameresco is the largest independent energy service provider in North America and has constructed more than $4 billion in energy projects throughout the world. The company has more the 650 employees in 50 regional offices throughout North America.
SOURCE Ameresco
Released November 19, 2009
