Waste Management to sell surplus electricity to WAPA
Published: June 30, 2012
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ST. THOMAS - The gas-to-energy facility the V.I. Waste Management Authority is building at Bovoni Landfill was awarded Qualified Facility status by the V.I. Public Services Commission on Friday.
The facility is being constructed to collect the gases from deep under the landfill and turn them into energy that will be used to power the wastewater treatment plant in Bovoni.
"I'm happy to see this coming forward, this is renewable energy," Public Services Commission Chairman Donald Cole said.
The authority already has a gas-collection system, but the gas is burned off. The new power generating facility would use the collected gas to fire an electric generator.
The gas-to-energy system had to be given Qualified Facility status by the Public Services Commission before it could begin to negotiate with the V.I. Water and Power Authority for WAPA to purchase any excess power.
The system will produce about 714 kilowatts of power, but the wastewater treatment plant will use only about 150 kilowatts. Waste Management Authority plans to sell the remainder to WAPA.
Waste Management Authority chief engineer Jim Brown said Friday that the landfill produces enough gas to fire two generators, but the federal grants to build the facility only covered the construction of one gas-to-energy facility. The landfill will produce the gas for about 20 years, he said.
The $3 million project was contracted to St. Thomas-based Island Roads Corp. The project is estimated to save the Waste Management Authority $1 million per year in the next 10 years, according to officials. The project was funded primarily by a federal stimulus grant from the U.S. Energy Department.
"I'm encouraged by the project. This was our federal stimulus dollars at work," V.I. Energy Office Director Karl Knight said.
- Contact reporter Aldeth Lewin at 714-9111 or email alewin@dailynews.vi.
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