Lake Mills, IA Landfill Gas to Energy
Lake Mills, Iowa

Landfill gas is a reliable, renewable energy source that is produced naturally as waste decomposes in landfills. When collected, it can be used directly as medium Btu gas for industrial use or sold to gas-to-energy plants to fuel engine or turbine-driven generators that produce electricity. Through 95 landfill gas projects, Waste Management Renewable Energy (WMRE) currently supplies enough landfill gas to create more than 250 megawatts of green energy that can power about 225,000 homes or replace about 2 million barrels of oil per year.

Howard R. Green was retained by Waste Management Renewable Energy to prepare design documents for a landfill gas-to-energy plant at the Central Disposal Facility in Lake Mills, IA. The power generated by the plant is purchased by Dairyland Power Cooperative of LaCrosse, WI. Howard R. Green Company also assisted Waste Management and Dairyland Power Cooperative with the design of the interconnect from the plant to the Dairyland power grid.

The facility consists of a skid mounted fuel gas compressor for gas intake, condensate removal and air compression. The compressor feeds into six 800 kilowatt Caterpillar 3516 generators which produce 4.8 megawatts of power, producing enough electricity to serve 4,000 homes. Inline intake fans draw outside air in through vented, filtered hoods on the exterior of the building to cool the facility and the generators. The facility also includes office space and a conditioned control room. In addition, it is designed to accommodate expansion of 2 additional six cylinder generators to take advantage of higher volumes of landfill gas that will be generated in the future.

This project is one of more than 25 landfill gas-to-energy projects on which Howard R. Green Company has provided or is currently providing project management, engineering, construction management and/or procurement services for Waste Management. The Lake Mills, IA facility and the other Waste Management landfill gas-to-energy facilities that Howard R. Green Company is involved with are unique in that the design of the plants allows for 98% uptime of the equipment, compared to an industry average in the 70% to 80% range, resulting in increased productivity for Waste Management Renewable Energy.

HRG coordinated all aspects of engineering from coordinating design elements with the site specific final design through start-up, including:

		Finalized site specific design based on site specific gas availability, local climate requirements, utility interconnections, electrical interconnect, piping configurations, geotechnical concerns, local civil engineering requirements, noise constraints, ground grid design, and other site specific unique requirements that may arise on each project.
		Coordinated studies required to finalize the site specific design (i.e. noise studies, soil resistivity, geotechnical investigations).
		• Prepared construction bidding documents for the project and CM to optimize resources and maintain the project schedule and along with WMRE's Technical Manager, prepared equipment procurement documents for significant and/or long lead-time equipment. Procurement documents included complete sets of drawings and specifications.
		In addition, HRG created a web site for public outreach and program coordination of the entire portfolio of landfill gas-to-energy projects which are in varying stages of development.