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 Documents,
Tools and Resources
American Municipal Power — Ohio
Bringing Landfill Gas to Market with Pooling Arrangements
American Municipal Power-Ohio, Inc. (AMP-Ohio), an electric utility,
takes a proactive role in promoting the use of renewable or “green”
power. When promoting landfill gas energy (LFGE) projects, however, AMP-Ohio
found it difficult to market power generation potential from small landfills,
particularly where power supply costs were above average and municipal
load profiles did not match the anticipated output from the smaller landfills.
Given high capital costs and differences in gas production from landfill
to landfill, AMP-Ohio also found it challenging to develop LFGE projects.
The company overcame this obstacle, however, by pooling the gas from many
landfills into one source and matching it to the municipal load. Based
on their success, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s)
Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) recognized AMP-Ohio as the 1999
Energy Partner of the Year.
Because a large landfill did not exist in the area, many AMP-Ohio customers
were concerned that there would not be enough landfill gas to support
projects and that the projects would be expensive. AMP-Ohio eased their
customers’ concerns by pooling landfill gas collected at four landfills
with relatively small gas production to match pooled electricity loads
from several municipalities. Combining the landfill gas into a single
source of energy has proven to be successful as well as cost-effective.
In 1998, AMP-Ohio partnered with Browning Ferris Gas Service, Inc. and
Energy Developments, Ltd. (EDI) to market the power generated from the
four Ohio landfills. AMP-Ohio initiated contracts with small independent
power producers, which allowed the project to qualify for accelerated
depreciation and federal tax credits. This action, in turn, would provide
the developers with a reasonable level of return on their investment,
thereby making the project more attractive to investors. Investors realized
that, when compared to the average cost of existing on/off peak purchased
power agreements, this greenpower source could be competitively marketed.
The green power was marketed at a rate comparable to market rates and
was fixed for 11 years. AMP-Ohio members were willing to pay rates slightly
above market rates in exchange for the fixed price.
To date, AMP-Ohio has successfully marketed to its customers all of the
of power generated from these sources, which is currently 28 MW. AMP-Ohio
envisions that other projects will successfully replicate this model elsewhere
in the United States.
By bringing together the power potential from several landfills, AMP-Ohio
found a way to provide a cost-effective, reliable fuel source and satisfy
customers’ needs at the same time. Using methane to power projects
reduces the need to flare the gas to the atmosphere, thereby reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
AMP-Ohio is composed of municipal communities in Ohio, West Virginia,
and Pennsylvania, all with on-going solid waste challenges. The development
of landfill gas projects is a component of their overall goal to provide
environmentally and economically sound solid waste management to their
citizens. With the ongoing push for improved transmission infrastructure
and independent controller operations of the nation’s transmission
system, these projects might prove beneficial to smaller entities in providing
reliable, distributed generation options.
Summary of Benefits
- Generates clean, renewable energy
- Prevents greenhouse gas emissions
- Generates awareness of and demand for clean energy
LMOP is a voluntary program that assists project developers, utilities,
landfill owners/operators, energy users, and communities to encourage
new LFGE projects. LMOP has developed a variety of tools (e.g., profiles,
fact sheets, project development manuals, and software) to facilitate
the development of LFGE projects. Hundreds of landfills across the country—and
around the world—are good candidates for a LFGE project. To find out more, please contact LMOP.
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