Cookstown District Council has launched its latest renewable energy project with the commissioning of a landfill gas utilisation / power generation plant at Magheraglass Landfill Site.

The collection and utilisation of landfill gas for electricity generation is an increasingly popular and viable form of renewable energy and is the waste industry's least known success story.

Landfill gas is the natural product produced in landfill sites by degrading organic waste. Last year each household in the Cookstown district produced, on average, 1.3 tonnes of domestic waste. The scheme at Magheraglass will mean some of this waste will be recycled into energy by collecting the gas, generating electricity and supplying it to the local distribution network. In this way fossil fuels of finite resources such as oil and coal are saved.

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Every tonne of waste can produce over 340 kWh of electricity. This is sufficient to power an electric light bulb for 5,000 hours or alternatively to supply the average household for four weeks. The Magheraglass Landfill Gas Generation Project is expected to produce 300 kW of electricity for up to 15 years. At this rate over 30,000,000 units (kWh) of electricity could be produced for export to the local grid which would be enough to meet the demands of 450 households.

The system was installed by Renewable Power Systems (RPS) with whom the Council has been working in partnership over the past four years. The firm has successfully engaged with NIE in developing a solution, based on the latest technology, to allow a cost effective connection to be made to the local network. An income share agreement is now in place between the firm and the Council in relation to the sale of the electricity generated on site.

(CD)