ALLENWOOD – A partnership betwen PPL Renewable Energy and the Lycoming County Resource Management Services unveiled a new green energy facility on Thursday, October 11 at the landfill on Rt. 15 in Montgomery. A dedication ceremony with the Lycoming County Commissioners, local legislators and PPL officials formally opened the new gas-to-energy clean power project that will provide most of the electricity to the neighboring Federal Bureau of Prisons.

All three organizations have been working together for several months to develop two 3 megawatt landfill gas-to-energy plants that will prevent the release of 34,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. “This is the equivalent of removing 6,700 cars from the road,” said Teri MacBride PPL Regional Community Relations Director.

PPL Renewable Energy, an affiliate of PPL Corporation designed, constructed and owns the new 6.2 megawatt power plants that will produce approximately 50 million kilowatt hours total each year, enough electricity to power 4,000 homes. The power plants will capture methane gas from decomposing trash and use it to generate electricity. It takes about two years for waste and organic materials from the landfill to produce the methane gas.

The county will use heat from the power plant’s engines to heat county facilities. “This new facility will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and add a reliable source of renewable power in the community,” said Rick Klingersmith, President of PPL Global. Landfill gas-to-energy systems have a dual benefit for the environment by generating electricity from renewable fuel while also eliminating emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas.

Using an agreement with Lycoming County, PPL will purchase the methane gas from the landfill to fuel the plant. From this, the county will buy back a portion of the electricity and then sell it to the prison.

The new system is fed by 71 methane wells drilled around the landfill. The Lycoming County project is PPL’s 10th renewable gas-to-energy facility in Pennsylvania.