Flexibility offered by microturbine cluster facilitates landfill gas project use

Capstone Turbine Corporation has secured a 800 kW order to power a landfill in Northern France. The order for the lightweight and compact 4-bay Signature series package was secured by Biogaz Services, Capstone’s distributor for renewable energy in France.

Deployed in Capstone’s pre-engineered, integrated, combined heat and power (ICHP) configuration, the microturbines will be equipped with Capstone roof mounted heat exchangers and will utilize the biogas at the landfill to produce electricity and thermal energy for the facility. Specifically, the microturbines will power the on-site evaporator, which is used to vaporize the leachates that collect in the ground at the landfill.

Currently, many landfills worldwide flare the gas that is produced by the decomposition of waste, which is a major source of environmental pollution. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for approximately 14.1 percent of these emissions in 2016. At the same time, methane emissions from landfills represent a lost opportunity to capture and use a significant energy resource.”

The microturbines were selected for their fuel tolerance, low operating costs, and their low emissions. The microturbines have the ability to use the landfill gas, whose composition can vary greatly, and produce clean and green electricity and thermal energy. France has strict ecological regulations, which the microturbines are able to easily meet, helping to reduce the landfill’s impact on the environment.

“Capstone microturbines were the logical choice as our technology is flexible with the ability to turn units off to match variations in the methane that is produced,” said Jim Crouse, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Capstone Turbine. “This built-in flexibility also provides higher efficiency as compared to a single, large, traditional power generation solution,” added Mr. Crouse.