$3.3 Million in Recovery Funds to Help Convert Landfill Gas into Energy

Grants to Help Counties Cut Utility Bills, Save Taxpayer Dollars and Create Jobs

The North Carolina Energy Office today announced the distribution of $3.3 million in federal Recovery Act funds to six counties for the development of projects to convert methane gases from landfills into fuel to produce electricity. Money for the program is from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Grant funds will be used to support design, planning, permitting, equipment purchases, contracting, installation, and other items directly necessary for the successful installation and operation of landfill energy systems, including landfill gas collection, gas conditioning, or end-use equipment such as boilers, generators, or turbines.

The following counties received funding:

* Columbus County -- $544,500 to install landfill gas generators to produce electricity and to develop on-site greenhouses to use waste heat from the generators. Total cost of the project is $951,500.

* Edgecombe County -- $325,000 to install generators to produce electricity and develop uses for the waste heat from the generators. Total cost of the project is $825,000.

* Robeson County -- $1 million to capture, condition and compress methane gas and use it to produce thermal energy for adjacent business use. Total cost of the project is $1,549,900.

* Rockingham County -- $814,300 to install and operate a methane collection system, carbon credit verification equipment and electricity generators and electricity interconnect upgrades. Total cost of the project is $1.9 million.

* Scotland County -- $250,000 to build a gas collection system and use the methane to run an engine/generator for electricity generation. Total cost of the project is $336,045.

* Wilkes County -- $358,635 to complete a gas collection system and use the gas for electricity generation and thermal heat for a greenhouse project.