Renewable Energy Generation

Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority facilities generate enough renewable energy from trash to power 1 in 6 Lancaster County homes on a daily basis.

Hard to believe? Consider the following:

• Together the 36 megawatt Resource Recovery Facility (RRF) and the 3.2 megawatt Landfill Gas-to-Energy (LFG) System have renewable energy generation capacity of 39,200 kilowatts per hour.
• An average Lancaster County home uses about 10,500 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. (US  EPA)
• There are about 172,560 homes in Lancaster County. (Lancaster County Planning Commission)

Thus, LCSWMA can generate enough renewable energy from trash for over 30,000 Lancaster County households, which is at least 1 in 6 homes.

Resource Recovery Facility located in Bainbridge, PA Conoy Township, Lancaster County

The RRF, owned by LCSWMA and operated by Covanta Energy, generates renewable through a mass burn combustion system that burns normal trash. This waste burns at enough temperatures to convert water into steam which drives a turbine that creates electricity. Only 10% of the energy generated is used to operate the facility and 90% is sold to an electric utility company.

• At the RRF, one ton of municipal solid waste has the energy equivalent of one barrel of oil. In 2006, over 353,000 tons of waste were processed at the RRF.
• Over 214,000 kilowatt hours of electricity were produced and sold to Metropolitan Edison in 2006.
• Enough renewable energy has been produced to power all Lancaster County homes for 1.5 years since the RRF began operations in 1991.

2006 EPA Project of the Year

Landfill Gas-to-Energy Plant located in Conestoga, PA Manor Township, Lancaster

In 2005 LCSWMA partnered with PPL Energy Services to capture and utilize the methane gas produced by the active Frey Farm and inactive Creswell Landfills. LCSWMA installed the landfill gas collection system and PPL built the LFG plant. The LFG power plant began producing renewable energy from landfill gas in December 2005. The proximity of the LFG plant to Turkey Hill Dairy enabled the building of a closed-loop pipeline to provide steam generated from the exhaust heat of the power plant to sterilize equipment at the dairy.

• Enough energy is generated from the LFG system to power 3,000 homes per year.
• This is the energy equivalent of offsetting 30,400 barrels of oil or 64 railroad cars of coal per year.
• The closed -loop steam system allows Turkey Hill Dairy to save the annual combustion of 240,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

Wind measuring tower located at the Frey Farm Landfill in Conestoga, PA

LCSWMA is continuing to explore renewable energy generation possibilities at the Frey Farm Landfill with partner PPL Energy Services.

• The installation of turbines to capture wind energy is being studied. A 60 meter wind tower was erected in June 2007 to measure wind speeds at Turkey Point along the Susquehanna River.
• Solar energy potential is being studied along the southern face of the capped Frey Farm Landfill.

Click on the facility photos on this page to go to more information about each.

Click here to go to a printable fact sheet about LCSWMA's renewable energy generation.