Consol Energy to Test Waste Methane Power Generation
Washington PA Observer Reporter
1 September 2010
Consol Energy Inc. on Monday received a state grant of $529,000 to
assist in the development of a power generation project fueled by waste
methane.
The grant, announced by state Rep. Peter J. Daley, D-California,
chairman of the House Commerce Committee, was approved by the
Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority. Daley is a board member and
one of the prime legislative sponsors of the authority's programs.
In a news release, Daley said Consol will donate the value of the
electricity generated during the first two months of operation to the
Charleroi Area School District.
Southpointe-based Consol will use the funding to demonstrate and deploy
a microturbine generator to capture and use a waste stream from a
coalbed methane processing plant in Fallowfield Township to produce
electricity.
"We are very pleased to enter into this partnership with the
commonwealth to demonstrate a technology that will turn a former waste
into a resource and then generate clean electricity from it," said
Steve Winberg, Consol's vice president for research and development.
"This grant demonstrates that Southwestern Pennsylvania is on the
forefront in finding new ways to utilize an untapped resource to create
efficient methods to generate energy while reducing air emissions,"
Daley said. "The microturbine will generate electricity from waste
methane gas that would otherwise be released to the atmosphere."
The benefits include the recovery of a lost resource of clean natural
gas, the reduction in the emission of that same methane, the generation
of clean electricity from a distributed generator and creation of
knowledge to promote future applications of this technology throughout
Pennsylvania.
Energy cost savings on the project will result in more than $832,000
for the next 20 years and will provide for local construction,
operating and maintenance jobs.