NextEra Energy Resources will work with Coffee County, Alabama to upgrade the county’s existing landfill gas collection system and connect it to a Southeast Gas-owned pipeline.
The landfill gas collection system will be upgraded to set up a new RNG production facility in Coffee County. This will be the first landfill renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility in the state of Alabama. The facility will capture and convert 1,100 standard cubic feet per minute of landfill methane gas annually to RNG.
This project is expected to capture more than 16,500 metric tons of landfill methane.
Coffee County Administrator Rod Morgan said the agreement with NextEra Energy Resources will offer economic and environmental opportunity to the state. It is expected to create an estimated 50 to 60 construction jobs.
"From both a fiscal and sustainability standpoint, renewable natural gas is the highest value product you can make from collected landfill gas. This facility is exactly the kind of development we encourage in our community. It brings innovative new technology and jobs to our area. We're proud to work with industry leaders like NextEra Energy Resources," explained County Administrator Rod Morgan.
Construction on the project is expected to start in the second quarter of 2023 and the facility is expected to begin operation in early 2024. The RNG project will be owned by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Marketing and operated by the County.
All of the gas generated at the facility will be sold to Southeast Gas under a long-term contract.
In October 2009 Coffee County installed the landfill gas collection system. Thirty vertical wells (pictured) were initally installed to extract landfill gas, mainly comprised of methane gas, which is considered multiple times more destructive as a greenhouse gas than even carbon dioxide.
Currently there are about 48 vertical wells, according to the county.
