Blue Sphere breaks ground on Charlotte project

Clean energy company Blue Sphere has started building its first waste-to-energy project in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Blue Sphere facility will produce 5.2MW of clean energy from uneaten food that would normally end up in local landfills. That electricity will then be sold to Duke Energy to provide power to local homes and businesses.

According to the National Resource Defense Council, an estimated 40% of food is wasted in the US every year, amounting to a $165 billion (€152 billion) loss.

'This facility is the ultimate landfill because we take waste in the back end, nothing going out. There's no smell, zero product, just electricity and compost,' explains CEO Shlomi Palas.
Blue Sphere plans for the facility to be operational by the end of the year. It hopes to have a further 11 facilities around the world built by 2018.

Blue Sphere generates electricity from biogas derived from organic waste, which is mostly food waste, and sells this electricity to leading electric companies through long-term power purchase agreements.