Dive Brief:
- Kalamazoo, MI-based waste and recycling firm Randolph Farms Inc. and Bloomington, IN-based Hoosier Energy are partnering on the construction of the Cabin Creek 4-megawatt landfill gas-to-energy facility at the Randolph Farms Landfill near Modoc, IN.
- Hoosier Energy will capture the landfill methane and use it to generate electricity. Whitewater Valley REMC, one of the 18 distribution cooperatives that own Hoosier Energy, is the current electrical provider for the 156-acre landfill.
- Construction of the $12 million operation is expected to begin in the fall of 2016, and power production will begin in early 2017. Funding from the project will come from low-cost clean renewable bonds in order to reduce risk to member systems and co-op consumers.
Dive Insight:
Many companies, similar to Hoosier Energy, are finding new ways to produce renewable energy from municipal solid waste and landfill gas — including building their own waste-to-energy plants.
Cabin Creek is part of Hoosier Energy’s strategy of furthering its diversified power supply portfolio, Waste 360 reported. By building the landfill gas-to-energy facility, Hoosier Energy will be closer to its goal of providing 10% of member system power needs from renewable energy resources by 2025.
Hoosier Energy already owns and operates landfill gas facilities in Clark County, IN and Pontiac, IL, with a third set to start operating in mid-2016 in Davis Junction, IL.
Waste 360 notes legislation aimed at helping such projects along: The New Jersey legislature considered a bill this spring that would award renewable energy certificates to facilities that report losses related to gas-to-energy projects; and in 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a final rule qualifying additional fuel pathways as cellulosic biofuel, including landfill gas, under the Renewable Fuel Standard program.
