Renewable Energy Distributed Generation

Calabasas Landfill 10 Capstone 30 kW Microturbine Landfill gas fueled 250 kWe 2 years simple payback <9 ppm NOx

5300 Lost Hills Road Agoura, California 91301 Background In 2003, the South Coast Air Quality Districts awarded 10 Capstone 30 kW microturbines to the Sanitation Districts as part of a program to help alleviate critical electrical demand without resorting to more polluting sources of electricity. This allowed the Sanitation Districts to evaluate the Capstone microturbines performance on landfill gas. Landfill The Calabasas Landfill is located on 505 acres with 416 acres designated for refuse disposal. The landfill is owned by Los Angeles County and operated by the Sanitation Districts. The landfill began operation in 1961 and has in excess of 20 million tons of refuse in place. The landfill has an expected remaining life of 30 years at the present disposal rate of 1,500 tons per day. Power Generation The power generating facility consists of ten 30 kW Capstone microturbines and a landfill gas fuel conditioning system. A dedicated header serving seven wells was installed to provide the microturbines with a consistent supply of high methane fuel. The resulting 150 scfm of landfill gas, representing roughly 3% of the available gas, is sufficient to produce the full power output of 300 kW. Landfill gas is known to contain moisture and silica compounds that can be harmful to power generation equipment. The gas conditioning system includes a chiller to reduce the gas temperature to 40 degrees F for moisture removal, a gas-to-gas heat exchanger to reheat the gas to near ambient, and finally a silica gel media to remove gaseous contaminants. Benefits The facility provides low cost power that offsets electrical demand of the landfill gas collection system and most of the other site loads. The environmental benefits include a reduction of greenhouse emissions, air emissions that are less than the gas flares, and the reduction of air emissions associated with less consumption of utility central generation. By generating power where it is needed there is also a reduced need for utility transmission and distribution facilities. The total project cost of $681,500 was funded by the Sanitation Districts with assistance from the California Public Utilities Commission funded Self-Generation Incentive Program, South Coast Air Quality Management District, and the California Energy Commission. As a result of this funding the Sanitation Districts cost was reduced to $160,000. The savings in electrical purchases paid for the facility in less than 2 years. The facility currently generates over $100,000 in savings annually.