Waste gas set to power Rotorua

A project which will turn gas from Rotorua's landfill into power is on track to start generating electricity early next year.

Construction on the power plant at the Atiamuri landfill is due to start in a few months and the plant should be producing energy in 2007.

It will be fuelled by landfill gas, a methane rich fuel which is produced by the natural decomposition of waste within the landfill.

The project is a joint one between out-of-town company Green Energy and the Rotorua District Council and the two organisations are now calling for submissions on the project.

Green Energy director Bruce Carswell said the project had all the consents it needed but submissions were being called to gauge community feeling about the plant.

The project was announced last September and will see Green Energy build and operate a 1.8MW gas electricity plant at the landfill.

The plant will produce enough power to supply the equivalent of that needed to light up 1800 homes, all from the gas of decomposing organic waste.

About half of the electricity will go to local use or help prop up the national grid, which supplies power to homes around the country.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)