by Richard G. Biever, Senior Editor

Gary Eakin still remembers the concerned calls to the Danville police department generated by the young landfill southeast of town. "People drove by and saw the excess methane being burned … they saw the fire," he said. "So, they'd call it in — being the good citizens that they were."

He said people didn't realize at first that methane was a natural landfill byproduct, created by the solid waste as it decomposes. They also didn't realize the gas had to be piped to the surface where it was burned off.

Now, 20 years down the road, those fires at Waste Management's Twin Bridges Recycling and Disposal Facility are being snuffed out by innovation. Instead of generating flares and phone calls, the gas is generating electricity.

When the second of two generating facilities adjacent to the landfill comes online later this spring, almost all of the gas created at Twin Bridges will be used to make electricity. The new plant is being built by Wabash Valley Power Association, the cooperative power supplier to electric cooperatives in the northern half of the state.

Running virtually non-stop, the two side-by-side plants eventually will create enough electricity for 5,000 homes and businesses. Potentially half of those customers will be electric cooperative consumers, purchasing the "green" power through an expanded cooperative program of Earth-friendly energy called EnviroWatts.

"They've found more appropriate uses for [the gas] now," said Eakin, who is now town manager. "It just goes along with recycling and rethinking the way we do things."

Gas goes electric

Garbage — once upon a time we made it, bagged it, curbed it and watched the garbage truck haul it away on trash day. Now, that garbage we made is decomposing in its landfill, buried under the continuous cycle that's carried out each week.

As organically-rich garbage decays, landfill gas is created. Over half of this gas is comprised of methane, the primary component of the natural gas used for cooking and heating in homes; the remainder is carbon dioxide. Though it might take solid waste a long time to decompose, it doesn't take too long for piles of our garbage to start creating gas in a sanitary landfill. Twin Bridges, with only 70 of its 249 permitted disposal acres under final cover, produces 2,000 cubic feet of gas per minute. About half of the gas is used by the existing gas-to-electric plant. The new co-op plant will use the rest.

Through a partnership with Caterpillar, Inc., the industrial engine and generator manufacturer, Waste Management brought the existing gas-to-electric plant in Danville online in 1994.

The landfill gas is collected in wells and then piped to the electric plant. There, the gas is compressed and fed into four Caterpillar 1,150-horsepower reciprocating engines, built in Lafayette. Using the gas as fuel, these spark-ignited engines turn electric generators to create about 800 kilowatts each. That 3,200 kilowatts total is enough electricity to meet the needs of about 2,500 homes and businesses. The electricity from the existing plant is being sold to Cinergy.

Tax credits in the early 1990s made the first plant possible, offering an incentive for Waste Management and Caterpillar, two non-utilities, to get into the electricity generation business. But after the tax credits disappeared, Waste Management could not financially justify building additional capacity — especially in Indiana where coal keeps electric rates low.

Indiana's electric rates consistently rank among the lowest 10 in the nation. Though the fuel is a byproduct of the landfill, an intricate infrastructure of wells and pipes must be installed along with heavy equipment to turn the gas into electricity. An initial investment of some $3.5 million is required.

"The economics were not there for us to build the plants and then turn around and sell them to utilities," said Jim Davis, vice president of Waste Management's Indiana division. "We were looking for other uses for the gases."

Waste Management, the largest solid waste company in the industry, serves 46 states and parts of Canada. In other areas, where electric rates are higher, Waste Management has installed 56 gas-to-electric plants at its facilities. "We're the leaders in the industry in putting in these landfill gas generation plants," Davis said.

In Indiana, Waste Management operates seven landfills. Three others also have gas-to-electric plants like the one in Danville. These are at landfills in Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties. The electricity generated from these three currently power the EnviroWatts program.

In 2000, Wabash Valley initiated EnviroWatts as an innovative end-use consumer program for its member co-ops. EnviroWatts can be electricity generated from such renewable, environmentally-preferred sources as sun, wind, water, geothermal springs and biomass, like the waste gas byproducts of a landfill or even cow manure.

Consumers of participating co-ops who sign up for EnviroWatts have the satisfaction in knowing that Wabash Valley is purchasing environmentally-friendlier energy to meet their individual needs. Green power, at this point, often does come at a slightly higher cost over the coal-generated electricity which dominates Indiana's supply and is reflected in the state's low rates. That difference is made up with a slightly higher rate for EnviroWatts.

Last year, Wabash Valley began looking for additional green sources. At the same time, Waste Management was looking for other uses for the other half of the gas being flared off at Danville. That's when Davis, based at Twin Bridges, and Ron Monts, director of marketing and economic development at Hendricks Power Cooperative which serves Twin Bridges, got to talking one evening.

The two laid the groundwork for a win-win relationship to build a new power plant at Twin Bridges. Monts contacted Wabash Valley. Negotiations between Wabash Valley and Waste Management produced the new plant.

Ground was broken Nov. 28, 2001. The plant will be operated by Twin Bridges, a division of Waste Management, and owned by Wabash Valley Power. The town of Danville joined the partnership by offering tax abatements.

Wabash Valley's three gas-to-electric generators will be coming online either later next month or in June. Using Caterpillar engines, as well, the plant will produce 2,400 kw. Eventually, a fourth engine/generator will be added to create another 800 kw.

"Waste Management partnering with Wabash Valley Power Association and the town is certainly going to benefit our community," said Eakin at the groundbreaking. "Who'd have imagined during the great debates over this landfill the great opportunities that have arisen?"

Earth-friendly alternatives

Since Wabash Valley began its EnviroWatts program, seven of distribution cooperatives that it serves have offered the program to consumers. About 300 consumers have signed up. Around 250 of them are from Tipmont REMC which announced its participation in EnviroWatts at a news conference. The co-op serves parts of eight north central Indiana counties, including the Lafayette/Purdue University area.

Last year, Wabash Valley extended the program to Hoosier Energy REC, the power supplier of 16 cooperatives in the southern half of Indiana. Five Hoosier Energy network co-ops have offered EnviroWatts there and signed up about 100 additional consumers. Two more Southern Indiana co-ops are in the process of offering the program.

Wabash Valley is also working with East Kentucky Power, a generation and transmission cooperative based in Lexington, to expand the EnviroWatts brand beyond state lines.
With eight megawatts available in the green EnviroWatts portfolio, about 6,400 residential consumers could sign up. "We've got a lot of room to grow," said Kathy Joyce, Wabash Valley's vice president of marketing.

Still, she noted, if a sizable commercial or industrial consumer became interested, that eight megawatts could go fast. That's why additional sources are being added and more is being considered. "Wabash Valley Power Association will be looking to actively promote any kind of economical source that could be considered green as long as it hits a certain threshold that can be produced … like one megawatt of output."

Bill Cooper, marketing services coordinator at Hoosier Energy, noted that though the program has been slow taking off, the nation's future will rely more and more on using renewable energy. "For our renewable energy programs to succeed," he said, "we must be patient and persistent in our efforts. In doing so, we can provide greater value to our members and our country long term."

Since Sept. 11, concern over the nation's dependence on energy from unstable and unfriendly parts of the world has notably and justifiably risen. Finding new sources of energy, conserving energy and using energy more efficiently have become top priorities. Increased use and research into green power is part of the mix for a stronger America. The use of methane to generate the 3,200 kilowatts at Danville, for instance, saves the equivalent of 58,000 barrels of crude oil each year. What's more, the Danville landfill, and others like it, will continue creating gas for another 50 years, long after the disposal there has ceased.

"Self-sufficiency, less reliance of foreign oil … even though it won't take care of all of our needs, it's a step in the right direction," Joyce said of renewables.

Because co-ops are consumer-owned, they are closer to their consumers and more responsive to their consumers. And co-op consumers, who are farmers, rural residents and suburbanites, live a little closer to the land than utility consumers in larger cities and towns. Wabash Valley and Hoosier Energy and their cooperatives hope that closeness will inspire increased interest in EnviroWatts in the coming years.

"The two organizations working together really sends a message that we are being accountable and we are doing what we can to be sensitive to the environment," said Cooper. He said both power suppliers have had long-term interest in promoting conservation and environmental education.

Wabash Valley, since the early 1980s, has been a leader in innovative demand-side management — initiating programs to reduce energy consumption. The programs work through the cooperation and support of consumers who voluntarily allow their co-op to install remote control switches on their water heater and/or air conditioner. When power demand gets too high, Wabash Valley can cut the demand by selectively turning off heating or cooling elements to different groups of consumers spread across its entire system for short periods of time. Consumers, their co-op and Wabash Valley all benefit by reducing demand at high-peak times.

Hoosier Energy has a long commitment to environmental stewardship, equipping its two coal-burning power plants with state-of-the-art technology to meet or exceed the minimum clean air requirements for emissions. Hoosier Energy also provides environmental and energy education programs and facilities to educators. These include the Environmental Education Center at its Turtle Creek Reservoir and a Web-based lending library.

Cooper said EnviroWatts is an extension of the environmental commitment the two cooperative power suppliers have shown. "It speaks well of the personality of cooperatives in general," he said.

Green pastures ahead

Wabash Valley and Waste Management are already looking at other Waste Management landfills in Indiana to possibly add more gas-to-electricity plants. In addition, Wabash Valley is working on another kind of biomass generation project.

In Jasper County, a large new dairy farm, served electrically by Jasper County REMC, is about to begin operation. Wabash Valley is working with the dairy on a waste digester program that turns the farm's abundant cow manure into electricity to meet the farm's electrical needs.

Those kilowatts will also be herded under the EnviroWatts label. "They won't have much excess electricity at first, just enough to run their dairy operations," Joyce said, "but in the future … they may have excess."

In the meantime, Indiana's electric cooperatives will continue working with consumers and the communities they serve to be the environmental stewards their owners — their consumers — expect them to be.