Landfill gas powers Air Force mission

  • Published
  • By Jennifer McCabe
  • Air Force Civil Engineer Center Public Affairs
The old saying 'one man's trash is another man's treasure' is true at two installations where the Air Force is using landfill gas to power its mission.

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the landfill gas facility at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The successful project, along with one at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, has already saved the Air Force millions of dollars in power bills.

It's this type of renewable energy that increases resiliency for the Air Force facility energy program because it operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, said Ken Gray, head of the facility renewable energy program at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center's Tyndall detachment.

"The benefits of landfill gas are that we have a ready fuel supply and it burns very cleanly," said Gray. "It's a continuous source of power and can provide real energy surety to a base because it runs continuously."

The Air Force constructed its first landfill gas facility at Hill in 2006. The facility has expanded since then and now includes three generators and produces 2.3 megawatts of electricity per year.

"We take advantage of a rate schedule 37, which is a cost avoidance rate schedule through our local utility provider," said Hill Energy Manager David Abbott. "It allows us to get a credit on our main base power bill for every kilowatt of energy that the plant generates for us. It's a win-win for the Air Force and for the local community as well."

The Air Force's second landfill gas facility began operation in 2013 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. It's designed to provide about 30 percent of the base's energy requirement.

"It's taking landfill gas from the City of Anchorage landfill and bringing it onboard the JBER facility which is immediately next door," said Gray. "We're using five generators to create seven megawatts of electricity per year, which makes this plant the highest producing, single renewable energy project in the Air Force."

Officials at JBER, the Municipality of Anchorage and Doyon Utilities worked together to make the idea reality. The city used to flare the gas at a cost of $60,000 a year to get rid of it, said Mark Madden, manager of planning and engineering, Municipality of Anchorage Solid Waste Services.

Now the Air Force puts it to use with the potential for Hill and JBER just the beginning.

Landfills generate methane gas for an average of 30 years. Once it tapers off, engineers will supplement the plant with natural gas to continue power generation. The Air Force has more than 600 recorded landfills on its installations, most of which are closed but they may still be generating gas, Gray said.

"We're going to start a study to look at all those Air Force landfills and see if any have the potential as a possible source of landfill gas," said Gray.