Hoosier Energy opens landfill gas plant

Power provider Hoosier Energy has started up its landfill gas-to-energy plant in Illinois, US.

Located at the 460 acre Livingston Landfill, the refurbished Livingston Renewable Energy Station generates 15MW of electricity for approximately 9,000 homes in Illinois and Indiana.

Hoosier partnered with the landfill owner and operator as well as Ameresco – the company that assisted the facility's refurbishment – to restore the generating engines.

'Landfill methane generation projects such as these are truly a winner for all concerned,' company board chairman James Weimer said at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Methane consumed by the plant is equivalent to removing 500,000 tonnes of CO2, which is equal to taking around 100,000 vehicles off the road.

This is Hoosier's second landfill methane generation facility. The Clark-Floyd landfill methane generation project in Indiana was built in 2007 and expanded in 2009. Today it produces 3.5MW of renewable electricity.