The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Alternative energy projects at landfill
ARE Park at landfill site a ‘win-win situation’ for businesses, county
County officials are looking to current and future projects at the Agriculture and Renewable Energy Park (ARE Park) at the county landfill on Buyea Road in Lincoln.
The Friday discussion included talk Cazenovia-based Johnson Brothers Lumber’s yet-to-be constructed drying kilns which would be the first business to locate at the Buyea Road site in Lincoln, and take advantage of the excess heat produced by Gas-to-Energy facility to dry their lumber. The facility captures methane gas from the landfill and converts it into usable heat.
The family run business was established in 1937, and they recently expanded their mill.
The ability to purchase low cost land from Madison County and make use of free excess heat to dry their lumber will be a financial boon, company officials said. The kiln dryer is expected to be running by the end of 2015.
“This is a win-win situation for both the lumber company and Madison County,” said Jim Zecca, director of the Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation.
A second phase of the project involving Johnson Brothers Lumber would be to use the moist excess heat from their drying kilns to heat a greenhouse at the Buyea Road site.
For years, the county recycling center has been heated using the harnessed methane gas, and about 50 percent of its electricity has been gathered by a solar cap on the landfill.
Looking to the future, Zecca said there are more possibilities for solar generated electricity and gasto-energy projects, which could provide power to buildings at the county office complex in Wampsville.
A ribbon cutting ceremony at Friday’s event touted the introduction of a recently installed solar array which will produce 50 kilowatts of power — enough to power the operations building at the landfill — through a 15-year power purchase agreement struck with Solar Liberty in Buffalo, the company which installed the array.
Officials also showed off the newly installed 210-panel, 50 kilowatt photovoltaic installation that will provide all of the electrical needs for the landfill operations building, said Zecca.
In the agreement, the county will pay $.05 per kilowatt hour for the life of the contract. County officials say they are currently paying an average of $.13 per kilowatt hour to National Grid. The installation will soon be up and running.
Currently Zecca, along with the Solid Waste and Recycling Committee and the Madison County Industrial Development Corporation, are working to bring a plastic-to-oil facility to the landfill.
The facility would process 1,800 tons of non-recyclable plastics and produce 450,000 gallons of low-sulphur diesel fuel which could be used in the county’s vehicles each year. Zecca said the project would reduce greenhouse gases, extend the useful life of the region’s landfills, and reduce illegal burying and burning of agricultural plastics on farms.
In 2012, the Madison County landfill began accepting agricultural plastics which historically were burned, buried or land filled.
Zecca said that the project has been submitted for state grant funding twice, but has been turned down both times, most recently this week. However, he said that the project will be looked at again and resubmitted.