Methane and Wind
In this blog post I want to mention to talk about two different types of renewable energy that could potentially affect Delmarva. The first type is the capturing of methane from local landfills, that power generators to create electricity. After talking about this in class I wanted to know a little more about how and where this is being done. I found an article on a website for Oak Ridge, North Carolina. The article gives a little history on the Piedmont Sanitary Landfill, that was established in 1990. It was expected to last between 23 and 30 years, but the company Waste Management decided to expand the disposal from just North Carolina garbage, to disposing garbage from six other states. Needless to say the landfill quickly outgrew its projected lifetime and size. Neighbors fought to stop the landfill from growing and consuming their homes, and after just 14 years of its opening the landfill was closed. (Northwest Observer, 2010)
The power plant that is projected to be built at Piedmont will generate 2.4 megawatts of power, enough to power about 1,339 homes. The level of methane is expected to remain constant for decades before a significant drop in methane production occurs. The 300 acre landfill is part of Waste Management’s larger project of opening 60 renewable energy facilities within the next five years. The article states that Waste Management “supplies landfill-gas to over 115 North American projects and provides enough electricity to power more than 400,000 homes, saving 2.2 million tons of coal annually.” (Northwest Observer, 2010)
As I read the article I thought, well this sounds like it could be done here, in Kent County, at out local landfill. Then I read about how the landfill is 300 acres and packed to its limit with garbage. Below is an image of Nicholson Landfill in Fairlee. If you look closely you can see the white PVC pipes that dot the ground, releasing methane into the atmosphere. I’d like to find out how much methane is actually release from this site and if energy could be made to at least power the energy needs of the dump.
The second thing I want to mention is an article I found in the Baltimore Sun. It is entitled “Maryland coast opened to offshore wind development”. Basically it states that the federal government opened up bidding to place offshore wind turbines off the coast of Maryland. This could be the larges US offshore wind project to date. The turbines would be placed about 10 mile offshore of Ocean City, being invisible to folks walking the boardwalk on hot summer days. They would be 20 miles off the shore of Assateague Island. (Baltimore Sun, 2010)
The project could potentially provide one gigawatt of electricity, helping Maryland reach its 20 percent renewable goal by 2022. The project is likely years away from erecting wind turbines due to years of necessary studies on shipping, wildlife, and undersea conditions and habitats. Its interesting that all of this hype toward offshore wind in Maryland is occurring just a few weeks after Google announced its plans to help build a transmission line for offshore wind power along the eastern seaboard. I think that transmission is the greatest concern that I have about offshore wind power in Maryland. The article mentions that the Eastern Shore of Maryland does not have adequate power lines to transmit this power generated on the Maryland coast. A lot of things have to come together to make this project work, and luckily I think there are some reliable organizations behind it, Google being one of them.
It would be interesting to know whether utilization of landfill methane is being considered for the tri county landfill near Easton. I think that landfill is a big too immature to be producing usable methane yet. But I suspect that they’ll have some suitors for that methane at some point.
| Posted 1 year, 2 months ago