Jan 31 2011
Detroit Edison Renewable Energy is planning to expand its RE portfolio by adding a landfill gas project in St. Clair County in Kimball Township, at the Smiths Creek Landfill.
It would acquire the 3.2 MW electricity generated by the Smiths Creek Landfill from Blue Water Renewables, which is a subsidiary company of DTE Biomass Energy. The Michigan Public Service Commission gave its approval for the power purchase agreement (PPA). The Landfill, which is operated and owned by St. Clair County, includes one of the premier septage injection landfill gas systems, run on a commercial scale in the US, which enables the addition of the material extracted from the septic tanks to the landfill to speed up the organic waste decomposition. This would help to increase both the rate of landfill gas generation and also the life of the landfill.
This project would create 75 jobs in the construction sector and produce electricity for powering 3000 households. It is expected to be operational by the end of the year. It also includes an education center where students and community members could gain knowledge on environmentally friendly ways of waste disposal and usage of renewable landfill gas for powering electricity generation.
The PPA is mainly to enhance the company’s RE resources and also add 1200 MW Renewable power to meet the state’s RE targets. It has a plan of generating 10% of its total power requirements from RE resources by 2015. Detroit Edison would derive the majority of its RE power from wind energy resources but it also runs two solar energy pilot programs producing about 20 MW of power. Currently it’s RE capacity is 4% of its total generation.
Detroit Edison is an electric utility that is investor owned and it serves 2.1 million customers in Southeastern Michigan region.
Source: http://www.dteenergy.com