Delaware Electric Cooperative announced that some members will power their homes from gas at a Kent County landfill.
DEC will now purchase power produced at Delaware Solid Waste Authority’s Sandtown landfill. The power is generated by turning the methane produced by decomposing trash into electricity. The project will not affect rates paid by customers of the cooperative.
The electricity generated by the landfill gas will be able to power 1,000 homes and reduces greenhouse gases that go into the air from landfills. The cooperative, like other utilities in the state, is under mandates to increase electricity production from alternative sources. The Delaware Solid Waste Authority collects the naturally occurring landfill gas at all three of its landfills, including Sandtown.
A private energy management company, Ameresco, owns, and operates the two landfill gas-to-electricity power plants at Sandtown and Jones Crossroads Landfills. These facilities generate three and five megawatts of electricity respectively. At the Cherry Island Landfill, gas is collected and pumped to the Calpine Edgemoor Power Plant, in New Castle County where it is burned with conventional fossil fuels, to generate electricity.
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