Sludge Watch ==> San Francisco - sewage treatment plant gas-to-power

[Maureen Reilly]

http://www.waterandwastewater.com/www_services/newsletter/january_15_2007.htm

San Francisco's First WWTP Gas to Power Project

San Francisco, CA -- The members of the San Francisco Public Utilities 
Commission (SFPUC) today approved an agreement to design, permit and build 
the City’s first Fuel Cell project at the SFPUC’s Southeast Wastewater 
Treatment Plant.
Once completed, expected by the end of 2007, the 600-kilowatt fuel cell will 
convert gases naturally generated as part of the wastewater treatment 
process into electricity for use by the treatment plant. The process will 
also reduce the plant’s need to flare or burn the waste gas, significantly 
reducing the plant’s emissions to the local neighborhood.

“The fuel cell project is another step towards achieving our clean energy 
vision for San Francisco,” said SFPUC General Manager Susan Leal. 
“Generating renewable power from waste gas is a win for our ratepayers, a 
win for the environment and a win for the neighborhood’s public health.”

The agreement authorizes Otto H. Rosentreter Company and Alliance Power to 
partner in designing, permitting and building a $2.2 million 600 kW molten 
carbonate fuel cell energy generation plant at the Southeast Wastewater 
Treatment Plant, with a five year operation and maintenance agreement.

Work on the fuel cell project will begin next month, with the project funded 
from the City’s renewable energy project special funds (MECA, or Mayor’s 
Energy Conservation Account) and the SFPUC’s Power Enterprise operating 
funds. An additional $2.7 million rebate from the California Public 
Utilities Commission-mandated (CPUC) Self-Generation Investment Fund will 
cover the costs of purchasing the fuel cell unit and hardware.

The fuel cell project approval comes only a month after the approval of a 
historic agreement with Lennar BVHP to bring renewable, public power to the 
new Hunters Point Shipyard development. Later this month, the SFPUC will 
begin operation of a new solar installation at the NorCal Recycling Plant at 
Pier 96.

Other SFPUC renewable energy projects include additional new solar 
installations in 2007, an initiative to turn waste grease into biodiesel to 
fuel city fleet vehicles and a feasibility study on how best to harness 
tidal energy from the waters beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

For more information visit http://www.sfwater.org/