News
Officials from the Lansing Board of Water & Light (BWL) and Granger hosted an open house today for generating plants that will provide green energy to thousands of homes and businesses in the area.
BWL General Manager Peter Lark, BWL Board of Commissioners Chair Frank Lain, City of Lansing Public Service Director Chad Gamble, and Granger Chief Executive Officer Keith Granger were on hand to celebrate the benefits of two Lansing-area green energy projects.
"Landfills have long been valuable resources in our state as safe repositories for the waste we all generate. Now, landfills are an even greater resource as we tap into the energy potential of our trash," Granger said.
Granger's first landfill gas-to-electric project, the Grand River Generating Station, first came
on-line in April 1991. The plant was expanded twice in 1996 and 1997. The electricity produced from this project during this time was provided to Consumers Energy.
The Granger Wood Road Landfill Gas Utilization Project, site of the open house, first came
on-line in January of 1993. The plant has previously expanded three times in 1993, 1994, and 1998. The electricity produced at the generating station at this time was also provided to Consumers Energy.
In August of 2007, the BWL and Granger announced a new and unique agreement whereby BWL customers will benefit from all electricity produced from Granger's two Lansing-area landfills.
The milestones of this project include the first electrical capacity of 4.8 megawatts transferred to BWL beginning in November 2008, the addition of the Grand River Generating Station to the agreement, and now the full capacity of both plants flowing to BWL.
The total capacity from both projects is 11.2 megawatts, enough to power 14,000 averaged-sized homes in the BWL service area. Wood Road Generating Station produces 8 megawatts of electricity. Grand River Generating Station produces 3.2 megawatts of electricity.
The annual reductions of greenhouse gases attributable to both projects are approximately the same as the annual greenhouse gas emission from more than 87,600 passenger vehicles or the carbon sequestered by more than 108,700 acres of pine or fir forests.
Renewable energy is produced from landfill gases converted to electricity at the generating stations. The naturally occurring gas in landfills, comprised of about 50 percent methane, is captured through a perforated piping system. The gas is pulled from the landfill into the generating station, processed, and used as a fuel source for engine generator sets. The engine generators create electricity, which is distributed to the utility grid.
Lark and Granger hailed the achievement as a significant stride toward goals set by new state law that mandates all Michigan utilities acquire specific amounts of renewable energy. Michigan's Clean, Renewable and Efficient Energy Act requires state utilities to operate with 10 percent renewable energy sources by 2015.
"I couldn't be prouder of this great partnership with Granger," Lark said. "Together, our utility can achieve or surpass state renewable goals, and both Granger and the BWL can demonstrate our absolute commitment to being strong environmental stewards."
