$40.5 million PUD, county landfill project to reduce air pollution, power 4,500 homes

Project will burn methane, a potent contributor to climate change

Look for an updated version of this story later Thursday.

A $40.5 project to capture and burn a potent greenhouse gas at the Headquarters Landfill will produce enough electricity to serve 4,500 Cowlitz County homes, the Cowlitz PUD announced Wednesday.

The PUD is collaborating on the project with Cowlitz County, which owns the massive landfill south of Silver Lake. The county is facing government pressure to curb emissions of methane.

According to a PUD press release, the county now captures methane — a byproduct of decaying waste — and burns it off in a flare system.  This process reduces emissions but the heat produced is wasted in the atmosphere. 

The new project will burn the gas in six internal combustion engines to drive turbines that will create  8.6 megawatts of reliable and renewable electricity, according to the PUD.

"This project will enhance the diversity of the PUD’s resources and help the (PUD) reliably serve its peak load during extreme weather events in the winter and summer," the utility said in the press release.

The PUD now gets most of its power from hydroelectric dams, wind farms and a Central Washington nuclear plant.

The project recently received $4.9 million in Climate Commitment Act funding in the state's 2024 supplemental capital budget. Additional funding will come through federal tax credits and contributions from Cowlitz County and the PUD.

Information on the timing of the project, its impact on local electrical rates, its design and impact on air quality were not immediately available.