PAIRING RESOURCES TO BUILD $45M PLANT
Anaerobic digester facility is expected to reduce costs for Saratoga, Albany counties
ALBANY, N.Y. » Saratoga and Albany counties unveiled plans Wednesday for a jointly owned and funded $45 million waste-to-energy plant in Menands.
The anaerobic digester facility will primarily take in sewage sludge but may also be used for food waste along with fats, oils and grease that would act as a catalyst for processing.
Both counties expect to save $1 million annually in biosolids disposal costs, while starting to obtain revenue from energy production after 20 years. In addition, left over solids can be sold as fertilizer for agricultural purposes.
“It becomes gold,” said Ed Kinowski, Saratoga County Board of Supervisors chairman, of Stillwater. “It’s going to be a state-of-the art facility. This is a great partnership. We’ll do more in the future.”
The announcement was made during a press conference at the Times Union Center Atrium.
“At the end of the day it’s about a green environment and working together,” Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy said.
At present, Saratoga County spends about $2 million per year for biosolids disposal at the Seneca Meadows Landfill, between Rochester and Syracuse. Transportation to the proposed Menands plant is much closer and will offset the need for the county to build a disposal facility of its own.
Meanwhile, Albany County spends about $2.2 million per year on biosolids handling at two facilities.
The Menands project, under discussion for about two years, still requires formal approval from the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors and Albany County Legislature, but Kinowski said it’s a done deal. The only thing left to do is hammer out a formal contract, which includes creating a board to oversee and manage the facility, he said.
A request for proposals for the design phase, expected to take about a year, will be issued in June. Final construction costs and timelines will be determined through the bidding process.
Depending on the plant’s size and capacity, it’s possible that other municipalities could send waste to the facility, too.
The group PAUSE -- People of Albany United for Safe Energy -- would like to see the City of Albany use the plant.
“We’re very supportive of this project,” spokesperson Diana Wright said. “It will reduce fossil fuels and increase green energy.”
But Kinowski said officials want to get the plant built, see how it works and determine its capacity before involving other municipalities.
“It’s got to start someplace,” he said. “It’s going to start with us.”
The facility is the first of its kind in the Capital Region, and it’s hoped that municipalities elsewhere will pursue similar joint efforts.
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority provided half the funding for a project feasibility study last year.
The project is in keeping with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s comprehensive Reforming the Energy Vision strategy, which calls for half the state’s energy production to come from renewable sources by 2030.