The College Station City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a Landfill Gas Purchase Agreement with the Brazos Valley Solid Waste Management Agency and the City of Bryan, moving local utilities one step closer to producing electricity with gas from the recently-closed Rock Prairie Landfill.
Under the purchase agreement, gas will be metered from the existing gas collection system at the landfill and would be used as fuel for a future electric generating facility located on the site. The Bryan City Council approved the agreement Aug. 9.
The next step will be future contracts between the cities for the design and construction of the generating facilities, along with an Interlocal Agreement for operation of the generation facilities.
Gasses such as methane and carbon dioxide are produced when buried waste decomposes. In certain applications, these gases can be used instead of fossil fuels, helping control energy costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, current landfill gas projects across the country are producing a combined 14 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to power more than 1,000,000 homes.
