Pumps at the old Catoosa County, Ga., landfill gather methane gas to send it to the county’s new plant that converts the gas into electricity.
Catoosa County’s Chief Financial Officer Carl HensonCatoosa County, Ga., officials worried they’d have to dip into financial reserves at the end of the year to balance the budget.
Instead, the county was in the black – thanks in part, officials say, to a new methane gas-to-electricity generator at the sealed-off Catoosa County landfill at the end of Shope Ridge Road.
The county earned $598,340 from electricity produced at the former landfill.
“We’ve completed our first year of operation,” county Chief Financial Officer Carl Henson said. “And it has done very well.”
The heart of the system is a German-made V-12 engine fed with methane gas pumped out of 88 wells that dot the landfill’s grassy slopes. The engine drives a generator that produces enough kilowatts to power some 200 homes.