Panel OKs Suffolk power plant that uses landfill gas

SUFFOLK

The city's Economic Development Authority has approved a Maryland company's request for help in obtaining $20 million in federally backed bonds to finance construction of a facility to turn landfill gas into electricity.

James A. "Skip" Smith, an executive of Silver Spring-based GPC Green Energy, told the economic authority's board Wednesday that when the facility is operational in 2011, it will provide at least nine full-time jobs paying about $65,000 a year, pump an estimated $2 million annually into the local economy, and produce enough electricity to power a neighboring chemical plant and some 4,000 homes.

"This is a green energy process, exactly the kind of thing the (Obama) administration has been asking for," Smith said.

The company is seeking funding under the economic stimulus package, which set aside $156.6 million for Virginia for low-interest bonds to help finance business construction in economically stressed areas.

To qualify, projects must first obtain local government endorsement. The EDA board voted 7-0 to recommend final City Council approval.

The company plans to build an electrical cogeneration facility next to the old Ciba Specialty Chemicals plant, now owned by BASF Corp., off Wilroy Road not far from the regional landfill.

The facility will consist of turbines that will produce electricity and steam, and other equipment that will capture and clean exhaust gases. Smith said the process would prevent 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide from escaping into the air and would take the BASF plant "completely off the Dominion Virginia Power grid."

He said it would also eliminate the nuisance smell of gas percolating out of the landfill that has plagued nearby residents.

Last week, the Southeastern Public Service Authority, which operates the landfill, agreed to supply methane for the project. Smith estimates that his firm will pay $6 million to $7 million for the gas. A byproduct of rotting garbage, methane has been commercially extracted from the SPSA landfill for more than 15 years and piped to the BASF plant, where it has been used for chemical manufacturing and steam production. This will be the first time the gas has been turned into electricity.

Jeff Sheler, (757) 222-5563, jeff.sheler@pilotonline.com