BWL, Granger power thousands of homes with renewable energy, donate LED lights for state tree

     Officials from the Lansing Board of Water & Light and Granger “threw the switch” today on a new generating plant that will provide green energy to thousands of Lansing-area homes and businesses.
      BWL General Manager J. Peter Lark and Granger CEO Keith Granger started the pioneering power plant, which runs on landfill gas.
      “With this project now complete, the BWL is well on its way toward meeting our own Renewable Portfolio Standard goal, as well as meeting recently enacted state mandates for utilities to acquire renewable energy,” Lark said. “We are proud to remain at the forefront of securing renewable energy for our customers.”
        “Landfills have long been valuable resources in our state as safe repositories for the waste we all generate. Now, landfills are an even greater resource as we tap into the energy potential of our trash,” Granger said.
        Granger and Lark also used the occasion to energize a Christmas tree decorated with energy-saving Light Emitting Diode (LED) light bulbs. The tree-lighting is symbolic of a gift that Granger and the BWL will present to the people of Michigan later this week.
        On Friday, Nov. 21 during Lansing’s Silver Bells in the City celebration, Lark and others will light Michigan’s official holiday tree. At that point, 5,000 LED lights will glow from every branch of the state tree – LED lights donated by the BWL and Granger.
       “Lansing will be celebrating a truly “green” Christmas with renewable power from landfill gas and energy efficient lights illuminating our state tree,” Granger commented.
        LED lights are considered the cutting edge of lighting, because they use about 85 percent less electricity than regular light bulbs, and can last up to 60,000 hours.
        The Granger and BWL landfill gas-to-electricity project was announced in August of 2007. The expansion to the Granger Wood Road Generating Station is complete with a generating capacity of 4.8 MW of electricity. By spring of 2009, the existing Granger Wood Road Generating Station will also be interconnected to BWL, producing an additional 3.2 MW of electricity.
Renewable energy is produced from landfill gases at Granger’s Wood Road Generating Station. The naturally occurring gas in landfills, comprised of about 50 percent methane, is captured through a perforated piping system. The gas is pulled from the landfill into the generating station, processed, and used as a fuel source for engine generator sets. The engine generators create electricity, which is distributed to the utility grid.
        Over time, Granger and the BWL expect to increase the amount of electricity generated at the Wood Road station. In several years, it’s expected the electricity generated from landfill gas will power more than 15,000 homes.
        Lark and Granger hailed the achievement as a significant stride toward goals set by new state law that mandates all Michigan utilities acquire specific amounts of renewable energy. Michigan’s Clean, Renewable and Efficient Energy Act requires state utilities to operate with 10 percent renewable energy sources by 2015.
        “I couldn’t be prouder of this great partnership with Granger,” Lark said. “Together, our utility can achieve or surpass state renewable goals, and both Granger and the BWL can demonstrate our absolute commitment to being strong environmental stewards.”

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