Plant to convert trash to gas, electricity to be pitched in Plainfield: What's the plan?
A company is proposing a project in Plainfield to address
Connecticut’s growing trash problem.
Developed by SMART Technology Systems, LLC, the SMART
Technology Solution uses sorting as well as waste processing and conversion
technologies to transform trash into renewable electricity. The electricity
produced by the plant is renewable, as there is a never-ending supply of trash
used to produce it. The project is
planned to be located on Norwich Road and Black Hill Road in Plainfield.
The plant is designed to process 468,000 tons of trash per
year – 9,000 tons per week. It is needed, as Connecticut’s existing landfills
have limited capacity. In addition, the Materials Innovation and Recycling
Authority in Hartford closed in 2022, removing 2,000 tons of trash processing
capacity per day.
Due to the limited capacity of landfills in Connecticut,
many municipalities have been transporting their trash out of state. The cost
to do this continues to increase and the capacity of out of state landfills is
in question.
In addition, incinerators are currently used in Connecticut
to burn trash. These incinerators produce harmful emissions and create
additional waste ash for landfills that further stresses landfill
capacity.
What kinds of waste would be accepted?
The Plainfield plant would accept all kinds of waste,
including recyclables and food waste.
What happens when the waste arrives?
The process of turning trash into energy at the Plainfield
plant will begin with the bulk handling system. This system separates
recyclable materials as well as organic residue and removes hazardous
materials.
How the waste is processed and what is produced
The SMART Technology Solution uses Valmet’s advanced
gasification technology to convert prepared refuse derived fuel from the bulk
handling system into a clean refined synthetic gas. The gas serves as a low
emissions boiler fuel to generate steam for a turbine, which produces renewable
electric power.
The bulk handling system directs the organic material to the
anaerobic digester, which captures biogas by digestion/fermentation of the
organics. The biogas upgrader converts biogas into renewable natural gas, and
separates and recovers the methane and carbon dioxide separately and liquifies
the carbon dioxide for sale and transportation.
According to SMART Technology Systems, this process
significantly reduces air emissions by capturing the carbon dioxide instead of
venting it to the atmosphere and produces a renewable product in the
process.
What happens to the residuals produced by the plant?
Some of the ash produced by the plant would be recyclable
and could be used to make products such as cement. The ash would also be used
to cover landfills in an effort to control disease, fires and odors.
Who would get the electricity and gas produced by the plant?
The electricity produced by the plant would go directly into
an electrical grid and be sold to Eversource. The gas produced by the plant
would be sold to a natural gas company.
Benefits to Connecticut residents
SMART Technology Systems said the plant will increase
in-state trash and food waste handling to more than 1,800 tons per day, five
days a week.
The plant will help to dispose of a substantial amount of
trash. In addition, the plant would convert organic material to a clean
renewable gas while having a lower impact on the environment than an
incinerator.
The SMART Technology Solution would reduce a significant
amount of air pollution while diverting millions of tons of waste from
landfills and produce clean electricity year-round.
Bill Corvo, manager at SMART Technology Systems, said the
smell and noise will be contained by the plant's buildings.
“The sound element is
completely under control indoors and the aromatics are under control as well,”
he said.
Process to get the project built
Corvo said in order for the project to be built, several
permits will need to be approved by both the Connecticut Department of Energy
and Environmental Protection as well as the Connecticut Siting Council. SMART
Technology Systems also plans to present the project to Plainfield residents
sometime in May.
Corvo hopes the permits will be approved later this year,
with construction beginning as soon as permitting is complete. He anticipates
that construction would take 1.5-2 years.
“We don’t anticipate going operational much before 2028,”
Corvo said.
Benefits to Plainfield residents
Corvo said the plant would be located away from Plainfield
residents in an effort to not disturb them. In addition, SMART Technology
Solutions would pay property taxes from the plant to the Town of Plainfield.
Demolition begins at Meriden's biggest eyesore on Cook Avenue, which may become the senior center
MERIDEN — Guided by an excavation worker, Mayor Kevin
Scarpati took the first cut out of the city’s biggest eyesore Wednesday at
116 Cook Ave. Skip Ad
Scarpati took out the front entry-way in the 77,000-square
foot building that blighted the lower Cook Avenue neighborhood. Its demolition
will yield two cleared brownfields and hopes for more economic or community
development.
The former medical office building housed practitioners
until the former Meriden-Wallingford Hospital moved to Lewis Avenue and was
renamed MidState Medical Center.
Several developers showed interest in the site but nothing
came to fruition and the city bought the property in 2009. Since then, the city
received a $200,00 grant to begin the environmental cleanup on the former
International Silver Co. property called Factory H that sits behind it.
Squatters made their way into the vacant building and a
cooking accident several years ago destroyed much of the facade.
In January, the Meriden City Council voted to include $2.6
million in its capital improvement budget to demolish the building. That
spending will be offset by a $2 million state grant.
Any future development on the nearly three-acre property
will be impacted
by the ongoing Harbor Brook flood control project, which includes
bridge work, the deepening and widening of the brook and the continuation of
Meriden Linear Trail.
The completion of this project will result in about a dozen
properties, including 116 Cook Ave., being removed from the city’s flood
plain. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
oversees the permitting, design review, and oversight of the flood control
project.
The site
had been selected for the future home of a new senior center, however
delays caused by the flood work have restarted a conversation about renovating
the existing senior center a 22 W. Main St. faster and at a significantly lower
cost.
Speakers at Wednesday’s demolition couldn’t help but avoid
the other white elephant on the street — the former hospital.
“We’re going to be asking you for more money,” state Rep.
Hilda Santiago, D-Meriden, told Lt. Gov. Susan Bysewicz.
“We heard you loud and clear,” Bysewicz replied.
United Illuminating, citing PURA rate case, cuts $70M in CT investments
United Illuminating said Wednesday that is has cut nearly
$70 million worth of investments in its Connecticut service territory as a
result of regulators’ decision to deny much of the utility’s request for a rate
increase on its customers in 2023.
Those cuts, which company officials alluded to in recent statements bemoaning their financial position,
mark the latest exchange in an escalating public feud between the state’s two
largest electric utilities and their regulators at the Public Utilities
Regulatory Authority.
The announcement also comes less than a week after a
superior court judge dismissed
most of the company’s claims that PURA acted unfairly by denying
United Illuminating’s request for more than $100 million in additional revenues
in its most recent rate case.
A spokeswoman said Wednesday that the company is has yet to
determine whether it will appeal that decision.
“PURA’s decision to underfund the company’s rate request by
87 percent has required UI to cut its capital budget in half,” a company press
release, emailed Wednesday, read.
“As a result, the company has been forced to defer programs and projects that involve proactive replacement and system advancement, such as substation infrastructure upgrades, underground cable replacements, aging distribution line asset replacements, system capability investments, fleet vehicle replacements, and Information Technology (IT) investments. The cuts will also significantly delay grid infrastructure upgrades, including clean energy projects,” the statement read.
Connecticut’s largest utility company, Eversource, made a
similar announcement last year that it was cutting more $500 million
worth of investments in the state over five years as a result of its
frustrations with PURA’s regulatory approach.
A spokeswoman for PURA declined to comment on UI’s
announcement Wednesday.
Rob Blanchard, a spokesman for Gov. Ned Lamont, issued a
statement Wednesday criticizing the company’s announcement, which he noted
comes amid
efforts to address Connecticut’s stubbornly-high energy prices.
“Withdrawing capital investments only harms ratepayers, who
already pay exorbitant prices for utilities and deserve a safe, reliable, and
affordable grid,” Blanchard said. “Time and again the courts have upheld PURA’s
rate decisions and despite this, the strength of our grid may be impacted
because the latest rate increase decision didn’t go UI’s way.”
The authority, led by Chairwoman Marissa Gillett, has
generally sought to apply stricter scrutiny to the costs utilities incur on
infrastructure projects and other investments that are then passed along to
customers through utility rates. Company officials have chaffed at that
approach, arguing it makes it harder for them to borrow money needed to make
further investments.
United Illuminating CEO and President Frank Reynolds pointed
to a decision in December by Wall Street credit rating agencies to issue a negative outlook for two of the utility’s
affiliated gas companies, citing Connecticut’s “challenged regulatory
environment.”
“The financial uncertainty brought on by Connecticut’s
unstable regulatory environment is forcing us to implement a bare-bones
investment plan while deferring proactive system upgrades, which will lead to
more frequent outages, slower response times, and higher costs for our
customers,” Reynolds said in a statement.
PURA’s approach has been defended by the Office of Consumer
Counsel, a separate agency tasked with representing utility customers in cases
before regulators.
“UI has repeatedly insisted that customers must pay for all
of its investments, including when the company has failed to prove that
investments are reasonable and beneficial” Consumer Counsel Claire Coleman said
in a statement Wednesday. “UI’s refusal to accept the clear standards of
utility regulation is disappointing. UI should take this opportunity to turn
the page and focus on fulfilling its evidentiary duty in the pending rate case
currently before PURA, so that customers can receive reliable, innovative and
affordable service.”
In a separate statement earlier this month, Reynolds said
that the utility’s actual return on equity fell to just 3.55% last year, well
below the 8.63% rate of return that was approved by PURA. United Illuminating
reported earning more than $24.4 million in profits last year from its
distribution network — the portion of the grid regulated by PURA — according
its recent filings with regulators.