Waste-to-energy plant construction picking up steam (Part 2)
Government officials exploring the feasibility of a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant for their communities may want to consider joining the Integrated Waste Services Association (IWSA).
The Washington, D.C.-based IWSA promotes integrated solutions to municipal solid-waste-management challenges, according to the organization. The IWSA encourages the use of waste-to-energy technology as an integral component of a comprehensive, integrated solid-waste-management program.
“Being able to associate with governments that have gone through the [WTE implementation] process, as well as the companies that are most heavily involved in operating these types of facilities, are benefits of joining,” IWSA President Ted Michaels said.
Michaels added that his group can put IWSA members “in touch with key legislators and regulators, so you can be able to get a sense of where things stand.”
“So there’s a lot of expertise within the industry that a local government can tap into through the association,” Michaels told GovPro.com.
According to the IWSA Web site, the 87 waste-to-energy plants nationwide dispose of more than 90,000 tons of trash each day while generating enough clean energy to supply electricity to about 2.3 million homes across the United States.
‘An interesting year’ for WTE
Fairfield, N.J.-based Covanta Energy sees a lot of WTE activity on the horizon.
“The year 2009 is shaping up to be an interesting year for the energy-from-waste (EfW) industry,” Paul Stauder, Covanta’s senior vice president-business management, told GovPro.com. “Covanta will finish the expansion of the Hillsborough County Resource Recovery Facility, a government-owned facility in Florida. The addition of a fourth boiler at the facility will be the second completed expansion in three years. In 2007, we completed the expansion of the Lee County Solid Waste Resource Recovery Facility. That government-owned facility expansion was the first EfW expansion in a decade. In addition, there are also plans for an EfW facility in York County, Pa., to expand.
“We also anticipate the upcoming bid award of, if not two, at least one new facility in 2009. Either or both projects would enter into the permitting phases immediately followed by construction.”
Covanta is seeing an increased interest in EfW internationally, Stauder added.
“The company expects to break ground on Ireland’s first EfW facility in 2009 and is seeing additional growth opportunities in the U.K.,” Stauder told GovPro.com. “China has also been eager to embrace EfW as a way to generate clean, renewable energy.”
Covanta owns and operates EfW and power-generation projects. The firm’s EfW facilities convert municipal solid waste into renewable energy for numerous communities, mainly in the United States.
Public-private partnerships make sense
City and county administrators should work with an experienced plant operator in a public-private partnership to expedite construction of a WTE facility, Mark Suchan told GovPro.com. Suchan is project development manager of Schmack BioEnergy, which has more than 250 WTE plants in operation in Europe. Schmack has U.S. offices in Independence, Ohio.
“A public-private partnership makes sense because it gives you the most flexibility in trying to get everybody to do what they do best, and it probably is the fastest way to get up to speed,” Suchan said. “The way to do it is, pay us a tip fee to process your material, and we’ll take the headaches off of your operation. You [the government entity] can concentrate on basically getting the solids, and we’ll concentrate on handling the solids in a facility that we own and operate.”
Schmack opened a $7 million biogas facility in Akron, Ohio, in 2007 and is planning an expansion of that plant with the city government. The facility produces boiler fuel from sludge that is generated by a composting plant.
The public sector is a key player in the waste-management universe, including WTE. Governments remain the largest users of waste-management and remediation services in the United States. In 2007, total spending on these services (performed by both public employees and third-party contractors) exceeded $31.1 billion. By the year 2012, total spending on those services will reach $40 billion, a 28 percent increase, according to the Cleveland-based research firm Freedonia Group.
Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series. To read Part 1, click here.