Kent County, Granger open renewable energy plant at South Kent Landfill, carbon credits ready soon

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

After more than two years of planning and construction, Kent County Public Works and Granger Electric of Byron Center recently cut the ribbon on a new biomass electrical plant at the South Kent Landfill, 300 100^th St. SW, Byron Center. The 3.2 megawatt plant converts landfill gas to electricity that can power some 2,000 typical homes.

"The plant takes the landfill gas, which is about 50 percent methane, and fuels two 1.6 megawatt internal combustion engines which turn electrical generators to produce electricity," says Joel Zylstra, COO of Granger's Energy Division who constructed and operates the plant.

"We're making money and we're destroying carbon," says Doug Wood, director, Kent County Public Works. "Granger sells the electricity to Consumers Energy and we get a percentage of the sales. We'll also sell the carbon credits, so that will give us two revenue streams."

The credits will be available for purchase after the county is approved for The Climate Registry, probably sometime in July.

The landfill contains 24 interconnected wells that pull the gas out of the landfill and direct it to the biomass conversion plant. The plant compresses the gas, filters it and removes the moisture to make a clean burning fuel to power the electric generators.

"Overall, these projects typically cost about $1.5 million per megawatt. The payback depends on how quickly we can grow the plant," Zylstra says. "As long as waste continues to flow into the landfill, more and more gas will be produced and we'll probably add another engine in three to five years."

About 150 acres of the 352-acre landfill site is actual landfill. It's currently at 44 percent capacity, containing some 3.5 million tons of waste. At the current disposal rate, the landfill will be at capacity in 2029.

Source: Douglas G. Wood, Kent County Board of Public Works; Joel Zylstra, Granger Electric

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].

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Kent County, Granger renewable energy plant at South Kent Landfil