Prince William eyes innovative waste-to-energy plant for landfill

Prince William County will open 5 percent of its 200-acre landfill to a business willing to build, own and operate a demonstration waste-to-energy plant.

The county has issued a request for proposals, due by Sept. 27, for a company to host a non-traditional, ?innovative? municipal solid waste conversion technology on 5 to 8 acres of the landfill, located at 14811 Dumfries Road. A secondary, 5- to 10-acre site at the county?s Balls Ford Road yard waste composting facility may be used as an alternative.

The chosen bidder, according to the solicitation, will design, build, finance, own and operate a demonstration plant using a technology that is near ready for commercialization, such as pyrolysis, gasification, anaerobic digestion, plasma torch or other conversion method. The plant will be capable of converting 50 to 200 tons of waste a day.

Traditional incineration technologies will not be considered.

?This demonstration project will have unparalleled exposure, with the County being less than 30 miles from the nation?s capital and the eyes of federal decision-makers, granting agencies and energy experts,? according to the RFP.

The county landfill?s expected lifespan runs through 2060. The facility is surrounded by the Prince William juvenile detention center, the Mosquito Control Building, a Board of Education maintenance facility, a private salvage yard, athletic fields and the site of a future church.

The landfill is an ?underused resource with the potential for creating a renewable energy base for the County, contributing to a decrease in overall dependence on fossil fuels and the generation of greenhouse gases,? the solicitation states. A portion of the site will be redubbed the ?Prince William Renewable Energy Park,? to take advantage of technologies like solar, wind and landfill gas recovery.

Michael Neibauer covers economic development, chambers of commerce, transportation and politics.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_16/~3/PElbQl-O8Ic/prince-william-eyes-innovative.html

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