Lansing-based Granger Energy Services has added five landfill gas utilization projects this year and is looking to add at least two more by the end of the year.
The landfill gas utilization projects allow Granger to generate electricity by using engine generators set to recover methane gas produced by the landfill. The generated renewable energy is then sold to a local utility.
The Michigan-based projects that went online this year include the Wood Road 
Generating Station, South Kent Generating Station and White Feather Generating Station. Granger also brought the Conestoga Landfill Gas Recovery Project in Pennsylvania and the Trans-Jordan Generating Station in Utah online.
"We believe this type of renewable energy is the most reliable form of renewable energy because all plants are online 98 or 99 percent of the time," says Granger Chief Executive Officer Keith Granger. "Other sources of renewable energy, such as wind and solar, may only remain online less than 20 percent of the time."
Granger also builds "direct-use" fuel partnerships with landfills across the nation. These partnerships allow Granger to pipe the landfill gas fuel to nearby industrial users.
Combined, Granger has 14 direct use and landfill gas-to-electric projects online in six states. Granger is looking to add more sites as demand requires.
Granger was the first company in Michigan to sell landfill gas and is one of the few such companies that also develops these projects.
Source: Tonia Olson, Granger
Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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