Watauga sells energy credits
by Scott Nicholson
Watauga County will be getting a quick return on its investment for a gas-to-energy project at the former county landfill.
On Tuesday, the county commissioners agreed to sell Renewable Energy certificates to N.C. Green Power, earning back nearly $40,000 over five years.
The certificates are a credit used by energy companies which are required to have a certain percentage of renewable energy credits in their portfolio, under a state mandate that seeks to curtail the emission of greenhouse gases.
Watauga County recycling director Lisa Doty presented the proposal, saying N.C. Green Power's bid of $11 per credit unit was higher than two competing bids from Duke Energy the North Carolina Municipal Power Association.
The county is exploring setting up a digital tracking system to utilize other credits, which will help in grouping and selling RECs from a variety of sources.
Doty said the new high school was another potential source of REC revenue.
Last year, the commissioners approved $165,000 to install generators that will convert the captured methane to electricity through a process that burns the methane released by decomposing organic matter.
Doty said the project should be online by the end of February, at which time the generators will be powering sanitation and maintenance facilities for the county. That will result in a savings of about $36,000 a year.
In addition, the generators will be on duty even when county buildings are closed, yielding surplus power that will be fed into the grid and sold to Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation for redistribution.
Over five years, those sales should bring the county an additional $97,000 in revenue.
The landfill was capped and closed in the mid-1990s after toxins migrated off the site. A methane collection system was installed in 2005, but at that time the methane was flared off and burned to limit greenhouse gases and prevent toxic build up.
Now that heat will be used to power the generators that produce electricity as well as heat nearby county buildings.
Doty said the expected remaining life of the methane project is 10 years.
On Tuesday, the county commissioners agreed to sell Renewable Energy certificates to N.C. Green Power, earning back nearly $40,000 over five years.
The certificates are a credit used by energy companies which are required to have a certain percentage of renewable energy credits in their portfolio, under a state mandate that seeks to curtail the emission of greenhouse gases.
Watauga County recycling director Lisa Doty presented the proposal, saying N.C. Green Power's bid of $11 per credit unit was higher than two competing bids from Duke Energy the North Carolina Municipal Power Association.
The county is exploring setting up a digital tracking system to utilize other credits, which will help in grouping and selling RECs from a variety of sources.
Doty said the new high school was another potential source of REC revenue.
Last year, the commissioners approved $165,000 to install generators that will convert the captured methane to electricity through a process that burns the methane released by decomposing organic matter.
Doty said the project should be online by the end of February, at which time the generators will be powering sanitation and maintenance facilities for the county. That will result in a savings of about $36,000 a year.
In addition, the generators will be on duty even when county buildings are closed, yielding surplus power that will be fed into the grid and sold to Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation for redistribution.
Over five years, those sales should bring the county an additional $97,000 in revenue.
The landfill was capped and closed in the mid-1990s after toxins migrated off the site. A methane collection system was installed in 2005, but at that time the methane was flared off and burned to limit greenhouse gases and prevent toxic build up.
Now that heat will be used to power the generators that produce electricity as well as heat nearby county buildings.
Doty said the expected remaining life of the methane project is 10 years.