ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
On Tuesday afternoon, local community leaders cut the ribbon to a power plant that will harness methane gas from the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson landfill.The project has been in the works since 2004 and involved JBER, the Municipality of Anchorage, and Doyon Utilities.
Officials say the plant should be able to provide 80 percent of the base’s power in the summer and 55 percent during the winter.
“Here you've got a resource that was untapped in our landfill gas, you've got a new utility that's been formed to tap that landfill gas, so that means jobs into the community, and then it provides energy security to the base,” Mayor Dan Sullivan said. “It really is a win-win.”
Project managers project the city could earn $51 million over 20 years in revenues from the sale of its landfill gas fuel supply.
Dan Gavora, President/CEO of Doyon Utilities, said “You don't see these very often. Where you have economics, you have environmental consideration, and you have community benefits, that's just a great opportunity.”
