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Methane Gas
In 2005 we embarked on a new initiative to transform waste into a revenue stream for Hardin County Government. Environmental regulations required the county to collect and dispose of the methane gas created through natural decomposition of waste within the Pearl Hollow Contained Landfill in an environmentally sound manner. To accomplish this, the conventional method would have been to build an $800,000 collection system to bring the gas to the surface and then burn it off utilizing a flare system. Of course this would have been a lost capital expense to the county plus the annual cost of operating and maintaining the system.
Instead the county partnered with East Kentucky Power (EKP) and Nolin Rural Elective Cooperative to develop a methane gas to electric power project that will eventually provide “green” electricity for up to 3,000 homes. This agreement included the equivalent of a $700,000 “no interest loan” for the county to build the collection system. East Kentucky Power built a 2.4 MWH power generation plant utilizing 3ea 800 KWH Generators to be fueled by our methane gas. Repayment of the loan will be through credits for the gas EKP uses. Once the loan is repaid (4 to 5 years) a revenue stream will exist for the remainder of the landfill’s useful life. After routine maintenance and operation of the collection system, it is estimated this arrangement will net county government approximately $2 million over the next twenty years alone.
Not only is this project an example of the excellent initiatives underway to operate county government more efficiently by turning an expensive waste disposal burden into a revenue stream for the county, it is also a great example of how government can assist in being good stewards of our natural resources. The operation of this first power generation facility (another is already being planned based on the expected outcome of the current plant) has the twenty year environmental impact of planting 1.4 million trees, offsetting emissions from 1M cars, preserving 23K rail cars of coal, or saving the use of 11.4 million barrel of oil.
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