- Company:
- OC Waste & Recycling
- Status:
- Awarded
- Awarded:
- Energy Project of the Year
- Additional Files
-
Energy Program Fact Sheet Feb 2013
Factsheet OC Final 6170737 CFFP New York
- Additional Information
None
OC Waste & Recycling/Broadrock Renewable Energy Program – Olinda Landfill
- Project Location:
Olinda Landfill, Brea, California
- Project Description:
The Project is a state-of-the-art combined cycle electricity generating facility that became operational in late 2012. The Project, which has been under development since 2006, is currently the 3rd largest landfill gas (LFG) fueled power plant in America. It leads the industry in both high efficiency and low emissions and represents a unique and extraordinary example of the benefits of a public-private partnership. The Project was a winner of the prestigious U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Project of the Year award.
- Project Justification:
•The Project represents a $130 million private sector investment in clean, renewable energy that created jobs and provide low-cost power to residents of Anaheim.
•The Project produces 32.5 megawatts of low-cost renewable energy, which, together with the existing facilities at the site produces 37.5 megawatts. Because the Project converts LFG to electricity on a 24/7 basis, the output is equivalent to the energy output of approximately 100 one-megawatt wind turbines and is roughly ten times the size of the average LFG to electricity project.
•The Project produces enough renewable energy to power more than 22,000 homes, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
•The electricity produced by the Project is delivered to the regional grid and bought by the City of Anaheim/Anaheim Public Utilities, with the output used throughout Anaheim.
- Special Circumstances:
This project represents three public agencies (County of Orange/OC Waste & Recycling, City of Brea and City of Anaheim/Anaheim Public Utilities) collaborating for the benefit of the entire Orange County community with the investment and partnership of the private sector (BroadRock Renewables LLC). These partnerships have yielded a process that comes full circle. The information below provides a synopsis of each partner’s role in achieving this successful partnership.
County of Orange/OC Waste & Recycling
•The County of Orange/OC Waste & Recycling manages the daily disposal of municipal solid waste at three active regional landfill operations, including the Olinda Alpha Landfill in the City of Brea. As previously mentioned, the County of Orange/OC Waste & Recycling buries more than 3 million tons of solid waste each year. As this waste decomposes, it produces landfill gas, which is primarily composed of methane and carbon dioxide gases. Landfill gas has been identified as a renewable source of energy and can be converted into electricity.
•Landfill gas-to-energy projects at the County of Orange/OC Waste & Recycling facilities produce more than 50 megawatts of electrical power with its existing supplies of landfill gas and anticipates expanding its electrical production to more than 73 megawatts of power in the future. While most landfills collect landfill gas, a greenhouse gas, and burn it in a flare system to destroy it, the County of Orange/OC Waste & Recycling partnered with BroadRock Renewables LLC to implement a project that now uses this gas in a variety of applications to create renewable energy. The project leverages the resources from the County of Orange/OC Waste & Recycling’s landfill gas and collection system and technology from BroadRock Renewables’ power plant to create an innovative and more environmentally sound solution that offers a clean, renewable energy resource for generations to come.
City of Brea
•City of Brea is the local host community and provided critical cooperation and support throughout the process. In addition, the City owns and operates the municipal water and wastewater system upon which the Project relies. Since this Project is physically located in the unincorporated County area, near the City of Brea, most planning and development permits were processed by the County of Orange Public Works Department. This process was done with careful collaboration with the City of Brea. Additionally, while the County of Orange served as the Lead Agency for the CEQA/Environmental Impact Report process, careful and cooperative efforts were also made between the two entities to ensure proper comment was received and adequate circulation efforts to residents were accomplished. With Brea’s assistance and cooperation, the permitting process was streamlined to ensure that it could be built within a specified timeframe to comply with the private sector financing requirements.
City of Anaheim/Anaheim Public Utilities
•City of Anaheim/Anaheim Public Utilities is a city-owned, not-for-profit electric and water utility that offers quality electric and water services – at rates among the lowest in California – to its more than 350,000 residents and businesses of Anaheim. The City of Anaheim/Anaheim Public Utilities entered into a Power Purchase Agreement with BroadRock Renewables LLC for the acquisition of electricity to serve Anaheim businesses and residents.
BroadRock Renewables LLC
•BroadRock Renewables LLC is a portfolio company of the Macquarie Infrastructure Partners II. BroadRock’s portfolio of projects currently consists of landfill gas fueled electricity generating facilities in California and Rhode Island. BroadRock management and staff worked closely with the County of Orange/OC Waste & Recycling on the design and construction of the Project at the Olinda Alpha Landfill. This process began in December 2010 with commercial operations having begun in late 2012.
- Project Attachments:
Environmental Benefits
•The natural decomposition of trash buried in the landfill produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that can be utilized in the development of renewable energy. County of Orange/OC Waste & Recycling and BroadRock both envisioned an opportunity for capturing the methane gas and using it to produce electricity, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the landfill, and reducing the need to use fossil fuels like coal or oil for electricity production.
•Over the next 20 years, the Project will reduce emissions equivalent to burning 144,000 railcars worth of coal.
•The Project establishes a new standard in LFG post-combustion emissions control by utilizing selective catalytic reduction (SCR) together with robust and comprehensive gas pre-treatment.
•The Project utilizes a high efficiency combined cycle process, which captures the waste exhaust heat from the combustion turbines to create additional electricity at an efficiency of approximately 45%.
•Because the City of Anaheim is located within the landfill’s wasteshed, the Project creates a “virtuous cycle” of environmental conservation by consuming the electricity in the very community that produced the waste.
•The Project employs an innovative reuse of precious water that will save an average of 32,000 gallons per day of potable water.
Economic Benefits
•Total investment in the Project is approximately $130 million. Cost to Orange County taxpayers is zero.
•The County of Orange/OC Waste & Recycling is projected to receive approximately $2.75 million in royalty payments annually.
•All major equipment components were manufactured in the U.S. and the principal generating equipment, four combustion turbine generators, were manufactured by Solar Turbines in its San Diego manufacturing facility, located a mere 100 miles from the location of the plant.
•Other benefits include the avoided costs of properly disposing the landfill gas with no beneficial reuse.
•There is also possible direct sales revenue from annual energy royalties, which helps offset the overall cost of landfill operations for the County and helps keep waste disposal rates lower for Orange County residents.
Job creation and retention
•Approximately 25 FTE permanent jobs, mostly local, were created for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the Project.
•During the Project construction phase, approximately 155 FTE jobs were created in California, some of which are local jobs.
•All major equipment components were manufactured in the U.S. and the principal generating equipment, four combustion turbine generators, were manufactured by Solar Turbines in its San Diego manufacturing facility, a mere 100 miles from the location of the plant.
•While many of these jobs were filled by local workers, their local employment, regardless of their home or business location, generated revenues to local businesses throughout the City of Brea and neighboring communities.
Physical Size and Financing Agreements
•The Project is currently the 3rd largest landfill gas fueled power plant in the country, and the sheer size of the project was the driving factor behind many of the innovative project elements. For example, whereas most beneficial use projects are small enough to be financed using 100% equity, this was impossible due to the $130 million investment required. As a result, the Project was financed using the more complicated traditional project finance structure usually reserved for much larger power projects.
•This necessitated all of the typical elements required for a traditional project financing, including long-term off-take agreement, fully wrapped, fixed price, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract and a creditable and bonded contractor.
•Moreover, because the Project was financed in such a difficult credit environment securing the debt required a complicated “club” of 5 lenders, an Internal Revenue Code Section 1603 tax grant bridge loan, and a $10 million Department of Energy stimulus grant.
The unique combination of public-private financing was a key element to the Project, without which it could not possibly have been completed. The Power Purchase Agreement with the City of Anaheim/Anaheim Public Utilities was instrumental in securing the financing.
- Award Citation::
The Project is a state-of-the-art combined cycle electricity generating facility that became operational in late 2012. The Project, which has been under development since 2006, is currently the 3rd largest landfill gas (LFG) fueled power plant in America. It leads the industry in both high efficiency and low emissions and represents a unique and extraordinary example of the benefits of a public-private partnership. The Project was a winner of the prestigious U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Project of the Year award.
- Suggested Award Summary:
The Project is a state-of-the-art combined cycle electricity generating facility that became operational in late 2012. The Project, which has been under development since 2006, is currently the 3rd largest landfill gas (LFG) fueled power plant in America. It leads the industry in both high efficiency and low emissions and represents a unique and extraordinary example of the benefits of a public-private partnership. The Project was a winner of the prestigious U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Project of the Year award.
• The Project represents a $130 million private sector investment in clean, renewable energy that created jobs and provide low-cost power to residents of Anaheim.
• The Project produces 32.5 megawatts of low-cost renewable energy, which, together with the existing facilities at the site produces 37.5 megawatts. Because the Project converts LFG to electricity on a 24/7 basis, the output is equivalent to the energy output of approximately 100 one-megawatt wind turbines and is roughly ten times the size of the average LFG to electricity project.
• The Project produces enough renewable energy to power more than 22,000 homes, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• The electricity produced by the Project is delivered to the regional grid and bought by the City of Anaheim/Anaheim Public Utilities, with the output used throughout Anaheim
Project Awards
Candidate Awards
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