Bord na Móna turns on the lights with new landfill gas power plant

On the 7th of April 2014 Bord na Móna launched a new landfill-gas power plant that will generate enough electricity to power 8,500 homes.

Minister for the Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte TD, officially launched the innovative new Landfill Gas Power Plant at Drehid, Co Kildare on Monday. The resource recovery project will use landfill gas from the Drehid site, using a household waste byproduct to produce 5.6 megawatts of renewable power – enough to power 8,500 homes.

The new ‘waste to energy’ project is an expansion of Bord na Móna’s portfolio of power generation assets and will turn waste in to energy at the state of the art landfill site in Drehid, Co. Kildare. A leading benefit of using landfill gas for the provision of electricity is its ability to deliver stable, continuous supplies of electricity to the power grid. The plant burns 6,000 tonnes of methane and converts it to carbon dioxide and water, which, if left untreated would have a greenhouse gas impact of 126,000 tonnes of CO2.

The resource recovery project created 25 jobs during the construction of the Gas Power Plant and a further 4 permanent positions will be maintained for the ongoing operation of the site.

Source: Bord na Mona