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Landfill Gas Project
"Service to the Fleet"
The
Yard held an All-Hands Groundbreaking Ceremony on Tuesday, 13 November 2007 to
begin construction of the Landfill Gas Co-Generation Plant. Honored
dignitaries included
Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard; Governor Martin O'Malley
of Maryland;
Mayor Sheila Dixon, City of Baltimore; U.S. Congressmen Elijah Cummings,
Wayne Gilchrest,
and John Sarbanes of Maryland. The Co-Generation Plant will utilize methane
gas piped from
a nearby City-owned landfill to produce electricity and steam for the
shipyard for the next 20 years.
The initiative is the largest renewable energy project in Coast Guard
history and the first landfill
gas co-generation plant in the State of
employees and guests, the official party gripped shovels and broke ground to
officially commence
construction of the Yard's Landfill Gas Co-Generation Plant, expected to be
operational on
Earth Day, 2009.
Landfill
Gas Project Hits Milestone
By
CDR John Slaughter, Yard Chief Facilities Engineering
The largest renewable energy project in Coast Guard history hit major milestones just before Thanksgiving 2008. During the weeks leading up to the holiday, the Yard saw the completion of the steam line replacement that had much of the Yard campus ripped up throughout the summer and fall. This portion represented almost $1,000,000 in capital improvements to the Yard’s aging infrastructure, as almost a mile of underground piping was dug up and replaced.
The four methane powered generators were recently placed into the new
co-generation plant building. Each
generator will be able to generate one megawatt of electricity and will be
powered by the methane captured from the
The one mile long methane pipeline from the Yard to the landfill has
also been installed and is ready to go.
Progress continues at a rapid pace pushing toward the target of
operational testing in February 2009 with a ribbon cutting tentatively
planned for April 22, 2009 (Earth Day).
This project is the largest construction project to occur at the Yard
since the shiplift was installed in the late 1990s.
It is also the largest Energy Savings Performance Contract in the
Coast Guard with a 15 year price tag of $41 million that will include
contractor maintenance and operation of the co-generation plant.
The entire amount of the contract will be paid from the savings
generated by self-generation of electricity as opposed to purchasing it from
the commercial power grid. When
the project is complete later this winter, the Yard will become the first
Coast Guard facility 100% powered by a renewable energy source and the first
co-generation plant (electricity and steam) in the State of
An interior shot of the co-generation plant building and the recently installed methane powered generators gives a peek of the project that will take the Yard “ off the energy grid” for nearly all of its electric and steam power needs for the next 15 years.
Construction of the landfill gas
co-generation plant building is underway! Operation of the landfill gas
project will be the equivalent of removing over 33,000 cars from the road in
greenhouse gas reduction.