R.I. to Get First Food-Scrap Digester on East Coast
NORTH KINGSTOWN —
There’s a lot of green energy happening at Quonset Business Park. The
3,200-acre facility already has one of largest solar arrays in the state, at
Toray Plastics, and currently several renewable-energy projects are moving
ahead.
Compost facility. Permitting for the East Coast’s first
food-scrap digester is expected to begin soon. NEO Energy LLC of
Portsmouth, N.H., is scheduled to break ground in about six months on an 8-acre
site. When finished by mid- to late-2014, it will turn food scrap into energy
and fertilizer.
Anthony Callendrello, NEO's chief operating officer, said the
plant will process about 20,000 tons of food scrap annually. Letters of intent
for accepting at least half that volume have already been reached with Rhode
Island supermarkets and other food institutions, including a seafood processor
at the Port of Quonset. No sewage or animal waste will be permitted.
Anthony Callendrello, NEO's chief operating officer, said the
plant will process about 20,000 tons of food scrap annually. Letters of intent
for accepting at least half that volume have already been reached with Rhode
Island supermarkets and other food institutions, including a seafood processor
at the Port of Quonset. No sewage or animal waste will be permitted.
“There is certainly
plenty of food waste in Rhode Island," Callendrello said. "We’re
confident that there is sufficient supply."
At a Sept. 10 meeting
with members of the House Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources
and the North Kingstown Town Council, Callendrello credited the state’s
fixed-price energy program, known as distributed generation, for making the
project doable. In 2012, anaerobic digesters were added to the list of
qualifying energy sources for the DG program.
Callendrello also
noted that Rhode Island has a better regulatory environment than Florida and
Texas, two states where NEO has biomass facilities. “I think, on balance, it’s
probably a better permitting atmosphere,” Callendrello said.
Food scrap, which
accounts for about 12 percent of the U.S. waste stream, is a national problem.
Diverting food from the waste stream will extend the life of the Central
Landfill in Johnston, and perhaps create savings for cities, towns and
businesses, as tipping fees, or the cost to drop food scrap at the proposed
plant, could be free, Callendrello said.
A local food digester,
he said, is “producing both a win for the environment and the energy situation
in Rhode Island.” Currently, most of Rhode Island's electricity is generated by
natural gas, less than 3 percent comes from renewable energy.
The industrial compost
facility will control odors through a ventilation system that draws air into
the building when doors are open. All the food scrap will be delivered by
truck, and would be emptied indoors, according to Callendrello. The digester,
which would draw methane gas from the food for fuel and energy, would be
enclosed, containing any odors. “Everything is inside,” Callendrello said.
The primary revenue
stream for the plant will be the sale of organic fertilizer. The proposed plant
is expected to produce 1,000 tons a year. The fertilizer is low in phosphates
and nitrogen and is ideally suited for turf farming and other agricultural
uses.
“We want this project
to be a showpiece for the region," Callendrello said. "To show that
Rhode Island and the Quonset Development Corporation [are] really ahead of
other communities in dealing with the food waste issue."
Solar energy. Several large solar-energy projects at
Quonset are also helping diversify the state’s energy mix. The Toray Plastics
solar array, which went online October 2011, has since been eclipsed in size by
other projects in the state. Several proposed solar fields in the business park
also will deliver more electricity.
A 2.4-megawatt solar
array built on two former Naval warehouses is scheduled to go online by the end
of the month. When completed, the $7 million West Davisville project will be
tied for the largest rooftop solar project in New England, with the capacity to
supply power for some 500 homes. It will be the largest solar project in the
state, until the 3.7-megawatt Forbes Street landfill project in East Providence
is completed in October.
Two half-megawatt
solar projects are also in the works for Quonset: one on a former landfill; the
second along a strip of land next to Davisville Road, one of the main
thoroughfares at Quonset Business Park.
Toray Plastics is also
launching a co-generation energy system, which captures heat from its facility
to generate additional energy.
Steve King, managing
director of the Quonset Development Corporation, noted that solar isn't the
first choice for open land at Quonset. “We say, 'hold on, we’re here to make
jobs.' Solar fields will create some jobs, but probably not as many as we
like.”
Palmer Moore of
Nexamp, the developer of business park's rooftop solar-energy system, noted
that the project employed up to 50 workers during construction, but only
requires routine maintainence when operational. But the project won't crowd out
other businesses, Moore said.
“We are coexisting
with an existing facility,” he said.
State inspectors were
initially skeptical about a large rooftop project, he said, but eventually
approved it, likely making it easier for future rooftop solar arrays in the
state.
