Asheville – It sounded as if the Buncombe County Commissioners had a toxic asset they were trying to unload. They spoke of repurposing it and even maybe unloading it, and yet they described it as being in perfect shape. After a lengthy conversation, Chair Brownie Newman clarified for the audience that the county had a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Duke Energy for the electricity generated by the county’s Landfill Gas-to-Energy (LFGTE) project. That contract would expire on November 21, 2024, and Duke was not expected to be interested in renewing. The county was now looking for a buyer to try something new with the system, and to that end, they launched a request for expressions of interest (REOI).
By way of review, under the leadership of former county manager Dr. Wanda Greene, the county invested in a bioreactor. The initiative was part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Project XL, which allowed organizations to pilot innovative means of alternative generation. This project collected methane from decomposing trash before it could escape into the atmosphere. The gas was then used to power a 1.4 megawatt generator that fed into the grid.
The initiative was supported by $4 million in federal stimulus; plus, at its onset, the project was estimated to provide, annually, $200,000 from renewable energy credits and $600,000 from electricity sales. Now, as the county continues to make annual payments of $75,000 on its stimulus loan until 2032, Solid Waste Manager Kristy Smith explained this was the time to “evaluate beneficial use options” for the LFGTE project.
Looking at revenues and expenditures, Smith showed how the LFGTE project had been netting positive returns through 2021. Then, in 2022, revenues dipped after renegotiating the PPA with Duke. This year, the county was invoiced for $230,000 for “one of the” major service bills for the generator, which was expected after 40,000 hours of operation. Net revenues were further diminished as the generator was taken out of service during repairs. The next major maintenance bill, due in 2025, is expected to be over $600,000.
In addition, the wells installed at the landfill for methane mitigation are over 20 years old. Upgrades and expansion were in order, but that would cost $1.3 million. The Solid Waste Department did not have funds for this in their budget this year, so they postponed moving forward until they saw the results of the REOI.
The REOI should open this month. “Any and all ideas and concepts from experienced and qualified firms are eligible to respond.” Smith said prospective buyers might include traditional LFGTE developers, purchasers of renewable natural gas who do not need a pipeline, parties interested in converting the natural gas to hydrogen fuel, or initiatives not yet considered by the county. Piping the biogas is not fiscally feasible, as there is no natural gas pipeline within ten miles of the landfill. Interested parties will have to attend a pre-submittal meeting at the county landfill this month (TBA) and submit their proposals in June.
Smith added the county was still going to be “working on some things” to make keeping the system profitable. She called attention to the Solid Waste Department’s van, which is powered by a biofuel-fed charging station at the landfill. She then said the county might be able to benefit from eRINs. These are tax credits invented by the EPA that will be made available starting January 1. They will accrue to manufacturers of light-duty vehicles that run on electricity generated by biogas, and that’s supposed to indirectly incentivize biofuel demand. “It does have the potential to give us some fairly robust revenue moving forward,” said Smith, “if Duke is willing to sign another PPA.”
Answering a question from Newman, Smith said regardless of what happens, the county will want to have some wells in good repair and operate a flare. She added that upcoming regulations will require medium-sized landfills like Buncombe County’s to run a flare system. Large landfills are already required to operate them. Even so, there is a significant movement, accompanied by technical advances, to abolish flares as unnecessarily wasteful and harmful to the environment.
“The challenge here is that we’ve got this valuable electricity, but the utility will no longer pay very much for it…. There’s not that much use for the electricity currently onsite. So, how do you get this valuable energy to where someone can use it?” summarized Newman. Thinking out loud, he threw out possibilities like creating a station where people take all kinds of batteries for charging or maybe just banks of automobile plug-ins.