The Anchorage area will find itself with another renewable energy source with the activation of Doyon Utilities’ landfill gas plant at the Anchorage Regional Landfill and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER).

Doyon Utilities President Dan Gavora was joined by Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan and JBER’s Col. Brian Duffy for the July 28 ceremonial start that marked the culmination of an alternative energy project that began in 2004 with an economic analysis commissioned by the city’s Department of Solid Waste Services. The $26 million project was awarded to Doyon Utilities by the Anchorage Assembly in 2011 and was completed this summer with the aid of a $2 million construction grant by the Alaska Energy Authority. Doyon Utilities owns and operates the 12 utility systems on Fort Richardson, Fort Greely, and Fort Wainwright under the Army’s largest utilities privatization contract.

The JBER landfill gas plant uses methane gas created by waste decomposition at the landfill. The gas is first processed to remove contaminates, then travels along a 6000-foot pipeline to the power generating plant located on JBER, where it powers four General Electric Jenbacher JGS 420 generators, each capable of producing 1.4 megawatts of electricity. The combined 5.6 megawatts of power is expected to provide up to 80 percent of JBER’s summer requirements and about 55 percent of the power requirements in winter. The generators can also operate on natural gas and are interconnected to a natural gas source for emergency power generation should landfill gas service be interrupted, providing JBER additional reliability and stability of this power source.

Landfill gas is currently being flared by the Municipality as required by EPA guidelines; the landfill-gas-to energy project ensures that environmental health and safety expectations are met, but instead of wasting this potential energy, the energy is put to use, offsetting commodity supply pressures in the greater Anchorage area. Under this project, the Municipality will collect over $51 million in revenues from the sale of its landfill gas fuel supply and project-related property tax revenues over the 20 year term of the contract. The State achieves renewable energy goals established under its renewable energy grant program. The federal government will obtain electricity at a lower cost with an estimated savings of $32 million over the 20-year period, and JBER will exceed its federally mandated goals for renewable energy. The project is expected to be economically viable in the first year of energy production.

The JBER Landfill Gas Power Plant is the first of its kind in Alaska and joins more than 650 operational plants similar to it in 45 other states.

For more information, contact Tim Jones at 455-1500 or tjones@dovonutilities.com.