Renewable fuel source will power city’s Hyperion wastewater treatment
facility, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and support energy resiliency
Constellation,
a subsidiary of Exelon
Corporation, and LA Sanitation today announced the start of
construction of a 25-megawatt (net) biogas-fueled cogeneration plant,
which will supply 100 percent of the steam and electricity produced to
power LA Sanitation’s Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant. Los Angeles
Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Councilmember Mike Bonin, and representatives
from LA Sanitation and Constellation attended a groundbreaking ceremony
at the Hyperion site to mark the occasion.
The cogeneration plant is expected to generate more than 173 million
kilowatt-hours of electricity per year and supply up to 70,000 pounds
per hour of steam, using the methane captured through Hyperion’s sewage
treatment process as its fuel source.
“At LA Sanitation, we are committed to protecting public health and our
environment,” said LA Sanitation Director, Enrique C. Zaldivar, P.E.
“Keeping our commitment means continually improving and finding
innovative new ways to meet the sustainability goals that Mayor Garcetti
has set for the entire city. Today's groundbreaking brings us closer to
fulfilling our pledge to the people of Los Angeles.”
LA Sanitation selected Constellation as the project developer after a
competitive bidding process. Constellation and its affiliate Exelon
Generation will develop, construct and operate the cogeneration facility
for 20 years, with an option to extend the agreement for two additional
five-year terms.
“Constellation is proud to work with City of Los Angeles and LA
Sanitation to develop and operate a cogeneration plant for the Hyperion
facility that will help the community move toward its economic and
environmental goals,” said Gary Fromer, senior vice president,
distributed energy at Constellation. “Biogas-fueled cogeneration offers
wastewater treatment facilities a cost-efficient, sustainable, and
resilient energy source that is highly effective at reducing methane and
carbon dioxide emissions.”
By using biogas fuel to generate electricity instead of brown power
sources, the Hyperion cogeneration plant is expected to avoid the
release of approximately 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each
year, or the equivalent emissions from over 21,000 passenger vehicles
annually, according to an estimate from LA Sanitation. In the event of
an electric grid outage, the cogeneration plant has the ability to
maintain operations at the wastewater treatment site.
The Hyperion cogeneration plant is Constellation’s newest project
through its distributed energy business, which has more than 300
megawatts of assets in operation or under development for commercial and
government customers throughout the United States. Constellation offers
distributed energy solutions, including solar, cogeneration, backup
generation, fuel cells, and battery storage, that may require no upfront
capital from customers and may provide fixed power costs that are less
than projected market rates.
Commercial operation of the Hyperion cogeneration plant is scheduled for
the end of 2016.
About Constellation
Constellation is a leading competitive retail supplier of power, natural
gas and energy products and services for homes and businesses across the
continental United States. Constellation's family of retail businesses
serves more than 2 million residential, public sector and business
customers, including more than two-thirds of the Fortune 100.
Baltimore-based Constellation is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation
(NYSE: EXC), the nation's leading competitive energy provider, with 2014
revenues of approximately $27.4 billion, and more than 32,000 megawatts
of owned capacity comprising one of the nation's cleanest and
lowest-cost power generation fleets. Learn more at www.constellation.com
or on Twitter at @ConstellationEG.
About LA Sanitation
As the lead agency for the City’s environmental programs and
initiatives, LA Sanitation protects public health and the environment
through the administration and management of three program areas: Clean
Water (Wastewater), Solid Resources (Solid Waste Management) and
Watershed Protection (Stormwater). These infrastructure programs
collect, treat, recycle, and dispose the solid and liquid waste
generated by the nation’s second largest city of more than four million
residents. Through these essential public service programs, LA
Sanitation delivers a triple bottom line of economic, environmental, and
social benefits that sustain the quality of life in Los Angeles. For
more information, please visit www.lacitysan.org.
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