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Tag Archives: Landfill

St. Joseph Landfill Generating Station Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

 

KCP&L Greater Missouri Operations Company, an investor-owned utility in Kansas City, received a $450,000 Energize Missouri Renewable Energy Biogas Grant to assist in the implementation of a landfill gas to electricity project at the City of St. Joseph Landfill in Buchanan County. KCP&L and the City of St. Joseph will hold their Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Thurs., March 8, 2012 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the St. Joseph Landfill located at 9431 50th Road SE in St. Joseph, Missouri. The plant will convert captured methane gas from the city-owned landfill into enough electricity to power nearly 1,000 homes per year.

The department has made the Energize Missouri Renewable Energy Biogas Grants available through funding received from the U.S. Department of Energy’s State Energy Program through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The subgrant funds will support agricultural and industrial projects that use anaerobic digestion-to-energy systems and landfill biogas-to-energy projects to produce biopower, bioheat or other forms of bioenergy.

 

 

 

Posted on Feb 28, 2012

What is RES?

Renewable Energy Standard

Anarobic Digester Project

Missouri Biomass site

The State of Missouri overwhelmingly passed the Renewable Energy Standard in November 2008 with over 66 percent of voters and all but one of Missouri’s 114 counties supporting the ballot proposition. The proposition, Proposition C, applied only to Missouri’s three investor owned electric utilities (Ameren, KCPL, and Empire.) These utilities were required to increase their generation of and/or purchases of renewable energy through 2021. Benchmarks were set for 2% of all electricity sales by 2011, 5% by 2014, 10% by 2018 and 15% by 2021.

The proposition defined “renewable energy” sources as coming from such things as wind, solar, crops, agricultural residues, landfill methane, hydrogen fuel cells and certain hydroelectric dams. [1] Further, the proposition gave the Department of Natural Resources authority to certify energy sources that might become available after the RES rule was put into effect.

Missouri has several renewable energy resources: hydroelectric, wind, biomass, landfill gas and solar, being the most prominent.

  • Hydroelectric: Currently conventional hydroelectric plants lead the production of electricity by renewable means in Missouri with the three major dams contributing 640 MW of electric capacity.
  • Wind: Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy producer in the State, with considerable sections of northwest Missouri suitable for utility scale wind projects.  Much of the area has annual mean wind speeds greater than 15 mph at a height of 70 meters.  At a height of 100 meters, nearly all of northwest Missouri has annual mean wind speeds greater than 15 mph, with sections reaching annual mean wind speeds of greater than 18 mph.  Also at 100 meters, much of the Kansas border counties have mean annual wind speeds greater than 15 mph. The public can access wind maps on DNR Web pages.  Wind Potential: Current Missouri wind farms have a combined electric generation capacity of greater than 450 MW and produced an estimated 1.1 million MWh of electricity.  There are also sections of the state that are marginally suitable for residential wind turbines.  Residential wind turbines are at much lower hub heights of 30 meters and the wind speeds are considerably slower.
  • Biomass: Missouri also has numerous biomass options available.  Missouri’s biomass renewable energy is quite varied. Missouri has 6 ethanol plants in northern Missouri producing over 200 million gallons of corn ethanol annually, 3 operating biodiesel plants producing 50 million gallons of biodiesel annually from soy and animal fats, numerous industrial applications using waste wood for direct heating, and several proposed biomass fed power plants.
  • Landfill: Missouri has several existing landfill gas-to-energy (LFGTE) projects, several under development, and over a dozen landfill sites considered good candidates for LFGTE projects by EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program.  Currently, Missouri has 11.5 MW of electric generation capacity and several direct heating applications from LFG.  Missouri also has nearly 20 MW of electric generation capacity under development.
  • Solar:Missouri also has potential for solar photovoltaics (PV) across the State, with annual mean solar insolation values from 4.5-5.0 kWh/m2/day across the State.  Solar installations have increased across the State from an estimated70kW capacity in 2008 to over 500 kW capacity in 2010.

[1] http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/2008petitions/2008-031.asp

Posted on Jul 29, 2011

Project Highlight — Energize Missouri Renewable Energy Biogas Grants

 

DNR's Andrea Kliethermes with city and KCP&L officials at the project grounding breaking in March 2011.

KCP&L and St. Joseph Landfill project:

KCP&L Greater Missouri Operations Company received a $450,000 subgrant through the Energize Missouri Renewable Energy Biogas Grant Program to assist in the implementation of a landfill gas to electricity project at the City of St. Joseph Landfill in Buchanan County. The total project cost is nearly $6 million.

Once completed the  project will provide the dual benefit of collecting and destroying methane gas and producing revenue to help keep the gate fee at the St. Joseph landfill one of  the lowest in the state.

KCP&L will build a methane gas collection system and construct and operate a power generation facility at City of St. Joseph landfill (90 acre 1.6 megawatts). The City of St. Joseph will operate and maintain the methane gas system.  There are currently 12 wells that collect landfill gas, which the city burns off as a waste product. Once the project is implemented, there will be up to 49 wells that will collect gas. The city will burn the gas in an engine that turns a generator to produce electricity. The plant will convert the captured methane gas provided by the City of St. Joseph into enough electricity to power nearly 1,000 homes per year.

The planned project consists of an expanded landfill gas collection system, gas compression and drying equipment, electric generation, flare, condensate storage, and electrical transmission facilities.

 

Key benefits of the project:

  • Turn the landfill into a green asset.
  • Collect and use methane.
  • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Generate renewable energy in Missouri which will reduce the need to purchase renewable power from other states.
  • Create jobs and stimulate the local economy.

 

Posted on Jul 13, 2011