Farmers RECC and its power supplier, Winchester-based East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC), today announced updates on their project to develop a plant in Glasgow that will produce clean, renewable energy. Called the Glasgow Landfill-Gas-To-Energy (LFGTE) project, the plant will produce renewable power using methane collected from the Glasgow Regional Landfill. The plant will be owned and operated by EKPC, the power supplier that is owned by Farmers RECC and 15 other rural electric Kentucky co-ops.
On April 2, 2015, the Kentucky Public Service Commission approved the construction of the landfill generator. This allows EKPC to begin construction of the facilities to generate electricity from the captured landfill gas. “We are extremely excited to be part of this and appreciative to East Kentucky Power Cooperative and the City of Glasgow for helping make this a reality,” said Farmers RECC President and CEO Bill Prather. “This project has been made possible as a result of the City, Farmers, and East Kentucky Power working together for the benefit of the community.”
The project began as a result of extensive discussion between Farmers RECC and the city of Glasgow. Farmers RECC was interested in the production of energy from renewable sources and the city of Glasgow was interested in capturing the methane gas produced at the landfill. In addition, the LFGTE project will provide a backup source of power to the Glasgow Water Company’s waste water treatment plant, saving them from having to make a considerable investment to provide their own backup power source.
“The longer term impact will be the ‘alternative’ energy that will be generated at the projects’ completion,” said Glasgow Mayor Dick Doty. “The City of Glasgow is very excited to be partners with East Kentucky Power and Farmers Rural Electric Co-op for the exciting opportunity to positively impact the environment and the citizens of Glasgow and Barren County.”
EKPC President and CEO Anthony “Tony” Campbell said the Glasgow plant fits with the cooperative’s Strategic Plan to continue to pursue prudent diversity in its generation fleet. “We were the first utility in Kentucky to build renewable power plants, and this project shows our continued commitment to affordable, reliable alternatives that work,” he said.
The plant will produce approximately 1 megawatt, which is enough electricity to power about 550 Kentucky homes and is expected to begin producing electricity later this year. East Kentucky Power will own, operate and maintain the plant, while Farmers will design, construct, operate and maintain facilities that interconnect electrically to the plant. EKPC will purchase the methane gas from the City to power the generator and Farmers will purchase all of the renewable energy produced by the facility. “It’s no secret that the demand for energy in Kentucky and around the world continues to rise,” Prather said. “We’re doing our part to responsibly meet this projected demand by working with the City of Glasgow and East Kentucky Power to develop this renewable resource.”
EKPC owns and operates five other Kentucky landfill gas plants located in Laurel, Greenup, Hardin, Pendleton and Boone counties. These plants annually generate enough electricity to power more than about 8,000 Kentucky homes each year. The environmental benefits of biomass projects equal taking 130,000 cars off Kentucky’s roads each year.