Constellation and LA Sanitation start construction of biogas cogen plant
Constellation, a subsidiary of Exelon Corp., and LA Sanitation have begun the construction of a 25MW biogas-fueled cogeneration plant.
The facility will supply 100% of the steam and electricity produced to power LA Sanitation’s Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Los Angeles, US.
Commercial operation of the Hyperion cogeneration plant is scheduled for the end of 2016.
The cogeneration plant is expected to generate more than 173 million kWh of electricity per year and supply up to 70,000lbs/h of steam, using methane captured through Hyperion’s sewage treatment process as feedstock.
By using biogas fuel to generate electricity instead of brown power sources, the Hyperion cogeneration plant is expected to avoid the release of approximately 100,000 tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent emissions from over 21,000 passenger vehicles – annually, according to an estimate from LA Sanitation.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Council member Mike Bonin, and representatives from LA Sanitation and Constellation attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the Hyperion site to mark the occasion.
‘Biogas-fueled cogeneration offers wastewater treatment facilities a cost-efficient, sustainable, and resilient energy source that is highly effective at reducing methane and carbon dioxide emissions,’ says Gary Fromer, senior VP of distributed energy at Constellation.
‘Constellation is proud to work with City of Los Angeles and LA Sanitation to develop and operate a cogeneration plant for the Hyperion facility that will help the community move toward its economic and environmental goals,’ he continues.
LA Sanitation selected Constellation as the project developer after a competitive bidding process.
Constellation and its affiliate Exelon Generation will develop, construct, and operate the cogeneration facility for 20 years, with an option to extend the agreement for two additional five-year terms.
In the event of an electric grid outage, the cogeneration plant has the ability to maintain operations at the wastewater treatment site.
The Hyperion cogeneration plant is Constellation’s newest project through its distributed energy business, which has more than 300MW of assets in operation or under development for commercial and government customers throughout the US.
