|
|
|
|
|
|
April 7, 2003
County promotes wide range of energy measures
King County Executive Ron Sims today proposed a wide-ranging series of measures that will protect the County from volatility in electricity rates like those during the energy crisis of 2000-2001. These initiatives were outlined in an Executive Motion transmitted to the County Council today, and will be heard during an energy briefing before the Council’s Utilities Committee Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers.
“We have faced the challenges of the energy crisis of two years ago by making more than $1 million in efficiencies and turning wastes into resources so we can gain energy independence,” said Sims. “These initiatives represent good planning, innovation and sound management that will benefit our ratepayers and our environment.”
Sewage and garbage and the gases they generate will soon fuel a measure of energy independence for one of King County government’s biggest power users. Even cow manure could be used in initiatives that will turn wastes into resources and help protect the County from volatility in electricity rates like those during the energy crisis of 2000-2001, Sims noted.
“There are several types of progressive approaches that serve our ratepayers and our region well," said Metropolitan King County Council Chair Cynthia Sullivan. “All indications are that energy supply and costs may be volatile for the next five to twenty years. The department is to be commended for its initiatives that will protect ratepayers and our environment.”
“The multiple benefits of these efforts cannot be underestimated,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson, chair of the Utilities Committee that will hold Tuesday’s briefing. “For instance, the methane gas generated by the 25 million tons of garbage that has already been disposed in the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill can be used to produce enough energy to power 16,000 homes each year. Green energy and the assurance of a stable power source are tremendously beneficial to the citizens of King County.”
More than 56 percent of all electrical power used by King County government is to pump and treat wastewater. Within the next two years King County will be less reliant on outside sources for power with installation of the first-of-its-kind fuel cell at the County’s South Treatment Plant, and a new waste to energy project at the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill. A biogas generation project for Enumclaw-area dairy farms is also being explored.
Groundbreaking is planned later this spring for the world’s largest sewage digester-gas fuel cell to be installed at the South Wastewater Treatment Plant in Renton. It will generate one megawatt (MW) of power.
Currently, digester gas is scrubbed and sold to Puget Power. Within the next two years King County will add another 13 MW of self-generation at its South and West Point Treatment Plants. Digester gas will be the primary fuel for generating electricity and will be part of the design for the planned Brightwater treatment plant.
King County is working on an agreement that will turn methane gas generated at the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill into electricity. The gas, currently flared to the atmosphere, will generate approximately 26 MW of 100 percent “green” electricity. The annual energy output from this facility will serve the equivalent of 16,000 residential homes and earn the County hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
The County is also working on a possible biogas generation effort focused on dairy farms on the Enumclaw plateau with significant benefits to be gained from improved air and water quality as well as disposal of cow manure.
Updated: April 7, 2003
Executive's news Executive's site map | E-mail the Executive By visiting this and other King County web pages, you expressly agree to be bound by terms and conditions of the site. The details. |
|