Outagamie County will have a聽renewable natural gas facility at its Little Chute landfill in 2022,聽replacing聽the currently decommissioned combined heat and power plant.Atlanta-based Mas Energy and the county聽agreed in a聽Board of Supervisors meeting Dec. 8聽to construct a renewable natural gas聽plant on the Recycling and Solid Waste property at 1919 Holland Rd. The聽plant will take聽methane collected from the聽landfill and convert it into compressed natural gas, which will be fed into a pipeline and distributed to various markets, Recycling and Solid Waste聽Director Brian Van Straten said.
Mas Energy will pay for the plant’s聽$25 million construction costs and manage the new facility. “This is a positive development,” Van Straten said.聽“It continues to enhance our overall mission to provide communities with exceptional materials management and environmentally sound operational practices.聽Make no mistake, this is where things are heading.”
The plant will also comply with the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. The RFS program聽requires a certain volume of renewable fuel to replace or reduce the quantity of petroleum-based transportation fuel, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. “This is Outagamie’s way of supporting this federal program. And it’s really important for our environment to capture this gas. Instead of聽flaring it, we’re turning it into a smart long-term viable renewable fuel.”