Company seeks to build energy plant fueled by landfill's fumes

SUFFOLK

A chemical company wants to build a $26 million "green energy" plant on its property off Wilroy Road that would utilize methane gas mined from beneath the regional landfill in Suffolk.

If approved by the Suffolk City Council later this month, the project would be the first cogeneration energy plant in Virginia fueled by landfill gas, generating both electricity and steam from rotting garbage.

The city's Planning Commission last month unanimously approved the project, which would power nearly all operations at Ciba Special ty Chemicals in North Suffolk and also provide energy for about 3,000 homes, according to company plans.

"This is a fabulous opportunity for the city of Suffolk and a wonderful investment for Ciba," Beth Earnst, a company spokeswoman, said Friday.

It also could be a boon for the Southeastern Public Service Authority, which owns the regional landfill and is struggling to keep its financial head above water.

Ciba has received methane gas from the landfill for about eight years through a 3-mile pipeline and pays SPSA an annual royalty of about $230,000.

The developer of the new project, GPC Green Energy LLC, which would build and operate the power plant for Ciba, estimates that SPSA would get about $3.5 million a year under the deal.

SPSA, however, has not signed a gas contract yet. Negotiations are continuing, said Tom Kreidel, an SPSA spokesman, and "hopefully should be completed soon."

While the various parties have been discussing the terms since last fall, Kreidel said, the process has taken so long because, in part, SPSA is required to follow government contracting protocols.

The timing is making some people with the project antsy.

"As soon as SPSA can agree to supply or commit the landfill gas to our project, we are 30 to 36 weeks away from turning the switch," said Skip Smith, GPC Green Energy's project manager. "We are ready to go, except for the SPSA commitment."

Methane for years was strictly a nuisance. It has an uncanny ability to seep through cracks and into buildings and, at times, can explode. It also is considered a greenhouse gas that, when released into the atmosphere, is thought to contribute to climate change.

In recent years, though, landfill operators and energy entrepreneurs have teamed up to mine and sell methane gas, which forms naturally amid buried garbage.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, there are 20 landfill-gas-to-energy projects in Virginia today, and another 12 in line as candidates. The city of Virginia Beach operates such a project at its Mount Trashmore II landfill, and SPSA has done the same since the mid-1990s.

But Virginia has no cogeneration plants fueled by landfill gas, according to EPA statistics, which makes the Ciba project especially exciting to its backers.

Among the benefits, organizers say: The cogeneration plant would reduce Ciba's use of fossil fuels; would cut air pollutants at the regional landfill and at Ciba's chemical facility; would provide Suffolk with more clean power for its residents; and would allow Ciba to market its products as manufactured by green energy.

"It's a win-win-win solution," said Smith, whose company is based in Silver Spring, Md., and has experience with other landfill-gas plants, including one in Armenia.

The plant would be built within a soundproof wall on the Ciba campus in Suffolk, at 2301 Wilroy Road. It would route the gas through compressors, freeze it, cleanse it, mix it with natural gas, and burn it for energy.

The resulting heat would be captured and converted to steam, which also would be used at Ciba, according to plans and officials.

Twelve high-tech jobs would be created by the plant, which also would require about $2 million a year in upkeep and maintenance expenses and cost about $26 million to construct, officials said.

The Suffolk City Council is scheduled to vote on a conditional-use permit for the project at its next meeting on Jan. 21.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com