Fuel plant now open at landfill in Burlington County

By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post Staff

MANSFIELD

The first of five engines began operating Friday at the startup of a $15 million plant in Burlington County to convert landfill gases into usable electricity that also will produce income.

The plant is expected to generate more than $60 million in net revenue during the next 20 years, mainly from the sale of excess electricity to the power grid, according to county officials.

"We have reached an environmental milestone. This generating plant will make Burlington County one of the largest producers of green energy in New Jersey," said Freeholder William Haines Jr., adding that the plant operation has begun two months ahead of schedule.

The 6,500-square-foot plant will not rely on fossil fuels but will reuse clean renewable energy -- the methane gas produced at the county landfill adjacent to the plant. The county had been burning off the gas into the atmosphere with a state-approved flare system but will now be able to capture it as a fuel source.

Mary Pat Robbie, director of the county department of resource conservation, said the plant will be able to generate 7.1 megawatts of electricity per hour -- the equivalent of what is needed to power about 8,000 homes -- when all five internal combustion engines are in full operation by the end of the month.

She said some energy will be used to run the landfill and recycling complex, resulting in an estimated savings to the county of $572,000 a year. Most of the electricity, however, will be sold to private firms that use electricity or to power utilities.

Because the county is using a nonfossil fuel, she said the county will qualify for and receive a one-time estimated $4.7 million in state grants that can be used to defray the plant's financing costs.

Haines said the plant will help the county meet its trash disposal costs of $32 million annually, an amount that rose several years ago when a court ruling allowed haulers to take trash out of state.