East Bay landfill produces fresh source of renewable energy for customers

PITTSBURG, Calif. (KGO) -- A unique facility here in the Bay Area is helping fight climate change as well as create renewable energy.

The Keller Canyon Renewable Natural Gas plant was dedicated in Pittsburg on Wednesday.

It's a short distance from a landfill, that's supplying the raw material.

Watching big rigs roll up to the Keller Canyon Landfill near Pittsburg, you might not guess they're helping to supply a new source of green energy for customers.

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But the organic material that's dumped at the landfill is now driving the largest waste conversion system of its kind in California. Project developer Jim Bier from Ameresco says the hum of the newly-dedicated facility is the sound of methane and other compounds being refined into renewable natural gas.

"So, this is a very sophisticated plant. It's able to remove all the impurities of the raw landfill gas and turn it into renewable natural gas to meet PG&E and these pipeline specifications, which, again, are the toughest in the nation," Bier said.

He says the unique system combines two stages. First, an existing plant converts the landfill or biogas into electricity onsite. That electricity is then used to power the Renewable Natural Gas Plant.

"So, this renewable natural gas project is the largest in California. And it's also the first one to be powered by a landfill gas electric plant. So, it is unique in that aspect that it's the only one doing that in the United States, potentially even the world stage," Bier said.

Eventually, the renewable natural gas is piped to a PG&E receiver station about three miles away. From there, it enters the utility's massive pipeline system Austin Hastings is vice president of gas engineering.

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"And so, we really do see this as an evolutionary step for de-carbonizing our gas system and being able to capture what otherwise would have been released atmosphere in the form of methane, and instead processing it and cleaning it up and putting in our pipeline to send downstream," Hastings said.

He said the project expands on other recovery systems developed in partnerships by PG&E, including capturing the methane produced by dairies in the Central Valley.

"So we have 51,000 miles of pipe throughout central and Northern California. So we have the ability to connect to these renewable natural gas facilities. Dairies that you mentioned, as well as landfills. And what's interesting about this facility is it's the first one in any service territory to connect to a landfill," Hastings said.

The innovative strategy is designed to repurpose a dangerous greenhouse gas. Turning a driver of climate change into useful energy in California. Engineers say the plant is a model that could soon be duplicated at other sites around the state.