It’s standard practice when you’re building a landfill to have a pipe and a flame to burn off the excess methane. But as carbon footprint awareness permeates the global consciousness, developers are looking for ways to make a difference in the emissions equation. And developer Evensol, thanks to $35.9 million in new financing from Greater Commercial Lending, is working on ways to harness that methane in Person County.
Instead of burning off the methane, it’s being piped from the landfill to a plant that can clean it and convert it to natural gas.
It’s called the Upper Piedmont Renewables Project.
“What was exciting about this project was taking methane from the landfill and converting it into renewable natural gas,” said Doreen Lorinczi, a vice president at GCL. “It becomes a product that every household uses.”
It’s a growing trend. Lorinczi said she has seen financing proposals from a number of similar projects and, while she can’t discuss it yet, she said another is likely going to be announced in the state.
The Person County project is already one of two in the state for GCL.
It’s also financing The Foothills Renewables Project in Caldwell County. Altogether, it’s financing $73 million for the two projects, which is guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Construction has already started and the facilities could be complete in the third quarter.