Economic Development
Turning Waste to Energy in Storey County, Nevada
NV Energy has announced a 20-year agreement to purchase power from a biogas energy project planned at the Lockwood Landfill in Storey County east of Reno. The project is being developed by Waste Management, which has 115 landfill gas-to-energy facilities operating throughout North America.
Methane gas will be extracted from a series of wells at the landfill and used to fuel a state-of-the-art gas turbine generator. The three-megawatt project is expected to be completed by late 2011.
“This project is noteworthy because it recovers otherwise unused landfill gas, cleans the gas with the latest technology, and then uses that gas as fuel to generate renewable energy for our customers,” said NV Energy President and CEO Michael Yackira.
According to Waste Management, most landfills collect landfill gas, a greenhouse gas, and burn it in a flare system to destroy it. Instead of simply flaring the gas, Waste Management uses it in a variety of applications to create green energy.
Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project in Southern Nevada
In December 2009, NV Energy announced that the company signed a 20-year agreement to purchase power from an 11-megawatt landfill gas project at a landfill north of Las Vegas operated by Republic Services. That project is also expected to be completed by late 2011.
NV Energy currently has more than 1,200 megawatts of power produced by geothermal, solar, wind, biomass, small hydroelectric and waste-heat recovery energy projects under contract that are either in commercial operation or under development.
