[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATER QUALITY - 5/16/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

May 16, 2007

 

4. Water Quality

 

Rialto, firm forge energy partnership

Riverside Press Enterprise – 5/15/07

By Massiel Ladron De Guevara

 

Wastewater and kitchen grease from local restaurants soon will power the Rialto wastewater treatment plant, reducing the city's energy costs by about $800,000 a year, officials said.

 

Chevron Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Chevron Corp., and Rialto joined forces to bring forward a $1.5 million project that will transform wastewater sludge and kitchen grease into renewable energy, Assistant City Administrator Kirby Warner said. The project will be completed in about a year, he said.

 

"It's going to be a very environmentally friendly way for us to save money," Warner said.

 

The project will reduce landfill wastes and lower greenhouse emissions by nearly 5.5 million tons annually, said Diane Padurean, spokeswoman for Chevron.

 

The system will include a 900-kilowatt fuel-cell power plant, manufactured by FuelCell Energy, that will generate electricity without combustion using methane, she said.

 

The project is eligible for a $4.05 million rebate from California's Self-Generation Incentive Program, administered by Southern California Gas, a Chevron release said. The remaining cost will be self-funded through energy-cost savings and revenues, without any impact to local taxpayers, the release said.

 

Councilman Joe Baca Jr. said he is glad to see the project move forward.

 

"I think this is great for Rialto that we are able to partner with a private industry to bring cost and energy savings to our city," Baca said.

 

"Hopefully what we are doing here is only one example of great projects to come," he said.

 

Another environmentally friendly project taking place at the Rialto wastewater treatment plant will convert the sludge produced at the plant into pellets that will fuel plants currently using coal, Warner said.

 

EnerTech is spearheading that project, he said.

 

The EnerTech project will treat sludge from areas in Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles counties, he said.

 

The additions to the Rialto facility are expected to be fully operational by the third quarter of 2008, a news release from EnerTech said.

 

EnerTech's SlurryCarb process, which will be performed in Rialto, produces renewable fuel, called E-Fuel, from biosolids and other high-moisture wastes, the release said.

 

The Rialto facility will produce about 145 tons of renewable E-Fuel from biosolids supplied by five municipalities. The fuel will be used by a local cement kiln as renewable alternative coal, the release said.

 

"When these two projects are completed, we are going to have two projects that are very much on the cutting edge of renewable energy," Warner said. #

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_B_bgrease16.4243248.html

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