In October 2005, Coffin Butte Resource Project, generating electricity from landfill gas, celebrated its 10th anniversary of operations. Coffin Butte is located just north of Corvallis, Oregon, at the Coffin Butte Regional Landfill, a state-of-the-art facility that receives about 550,000 tons of waste each year from 12 counties in western Oregon and generates approximately 2.5 megawatts of energy. With an expansion, due to be completed in the fall of 2007, the generating capacity will increase to 5.66 megawatts, enough to power about 4,000 homes.
Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative, Inc., along with 11 other utility cooperatives in the Northwest, participates in this green power project with expertise provided by PNGC Power. CCEC receives about 10 to 12 percent of the output at an average cost of 3.1 cents per kilowatt hour. Cost projections for the next 15 years average 3.7 cents per kilowatt hour for the Coffin Butte generating facility, making it a very affordable green energy source.
How does it work? The project generates power from the landfill gas, a natural byproduct of the decaying organic matter in the landfill. Through an extensive series of pipes and wells laid throughout the landfill, the gas is captured and pumped to the power plant, where it is used to generate electricity. Three 16-cylinder Caterpillar engines, each turning an electric generator, convert the landfill gas into 2.5 megawatts of power. The expansion will add two 20-cylinder engines.
Because Coffin Butte produces power from organic matter, it is a clean green power resource and has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as one of the most efficient projects in the country. Landfill gas is a recognized renewable and environmentally preferred resource that reduces greenhouse gas and local air pollution emissions. Without the power plant to use the gas, it would have to be burned in a flare.
Every kilowatt-hour of energy generated by this method means one less kilowatt-hour potentially generated by fossil-fueled power plants.
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