Former Meridian subsidiary Energy for Industry (EFI) is expected to be announced as the company signed up to turn Hawke's Bay's rubbish into electricity.
EFI was sold to South Island's Pioneer Generation in late 2012 and remained a sustainable energy specialist, which included converting landfill gas to power, which could be fed back into the electricity distribution network.
The company is considering a venture with the Hastings district and Napier city councils which jointly owns and operates the Omarunui Landfill near Taradale. Hawke's Bay Today understands the councils and EFI are currently reviewing a commercial agreement which may be signed off in the coming months.
Details of how much electricity the landfill could generate had not been released but an earlier report to the Omarunui Refuse Landfill Committee, which comprised Napier and Hastings councillors, suggested up to 1000 homes could be powered by extracting gas from the region's rubbish.
The committee had also taken advice from the operators of the gas collection system at the Silverstream Landfill near Wellington. EFI had three engines working at Silverstream, converting landfill gas to electricity, and each had a maximum output of 920kW.
Omarunui Refuse Landfill Committee chairman Wayne Bradshaw said he could not say when the agreement would be finalised.
"The committee has done its part and now it's gone up to the council staff and management, and EFI to decide upon.
"It is a matter of calculating the gas which can be generated from the landfill and whether that is enough to convert to energy and we've publicly heard that it is to that level."
Mr Bradshaw said it had always been the committee's wish to convert the landfill's gas to energy.
"We have to flare off the gas and it makes economical and environmental sense to transform it to energy, otherwise we are just burning it off into the air.
"It looks as though it may be able to provide enough electricity for 800 to 1000 homes and it'll be a good thing for the region."
Information from EFI's website said landfill gas was produced when compacted rubbish decayed in the absence of oxygen. The gas was typically 55 per cent methane, 35 per cent carbon dioxide with the remainder mainly nitrogen.
Methane was the most significant component of the landfill gas and was one of the most potent green house gases. It is highly explosive if not controlled.
All landfills were required to flare off gas, which presented an opportunity to turn the gas into electricity. The Omarunui site had gas extraction wells drilled into the landfill, creating a piped network to its flare.
A typical EFI system involved using vacuum pumps to suck the gas out of the landfill's pipe network. The gas passed through a treatment process where it is dried and filtered to remove small particles.