Colusa, CA (MPG) – Colusa officials were split on the decision to partner with an energy company that converts sewer sludge and other organic waste into a renewable source of electricity.
After months of discussion and uncertainty, the Colusa City Council voted 3-2 to purchase the excess power BC&E will generate beyond its own needs for the next 15 years.
BC&E, formerly of Sacramento, hopes to be up and operational with a 4.5-megawatt power plant this year to take advantage of tax credits made available from the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law nearly one year ago.
“Each municipality in California must use 30% renewable energy by 2025, 50 percent renewable energy by 2035, and 100 percent by 2045; so, we’ve got to do something,” said Councilwoman Denise Conrado, who supported the project from the start. “This technology, from the research I’ve done, reduces landfill, and it has been used in Europe for decades…It produces sustainable, climate-friendly, renewable electric energy.”
The equipment will be housed inside a structure on Colusa Industrial Park. BC&E officials said the project uses gasification technology that is different from the typical incineration or burning process most often used in U.S. and has been highly tested.
“We use a process called pyrolysis,” BC&E Project Manager Wayne Herling said.
The technology will allow for a variety of feedstock materials – including agricultural waste, wood, and sewer sludge – to be cleanly converted by high heat into carbon char and synthetic gas.
For now, the preliminary deal between the City of Colusa and BC&E is for the city to purchase renewable electricity through a Power Purchase Agreement, which the council approved June 18, with an option for a 12.5% stake in ownership. The city can eventually buy the project outright and operate it as a city utility, officials said.
Through the agreement, Colusa will purchase power for 16 cents a kilowatt, which would save the city about $330,000 annually on electricity, with the excess power sold to PG&E at 19.1 cents.
Herling said BC&E is walking city officials through the BioMAT process with PG&E, which allows for small renewable biomass projects to sell energy to the grid.
Colusa stands to make $5 million over the next two years from tax credits the federal government has made available and were promised the facility would have no adverse environmental impacts, something officials said Colusa residents heard many times before with mushroom composting and cannabis.
“Some of the concerns I have spoken (with BC&E) about are the concerns of citizens about noise, smell, and pollution,” said Councilman Daniel Vaca, who asked Herling to address them.
Herling said the plant is odorless, and pollution output must meet the regulations set by the Colusa County Air Pollution Control District.
“The air board requires us to not pollute above a certain requirement…” he said. “We cannot operate unless (the plant) is approved and we can demonstrate that we are not polluting. So, essentially, we have to build it, test it, and prove that we don’t pollute before we will be given a permit to operate.”
Pyrolysis is the application of high heat in the absence of oxygen and does not create ash or other toxic pollutants, as would burning, Herling explained. Noise is eliminated because the equipment will be housed inside a building, not outside.
During public comment, former Colusa Councilwoman Marilyn Acree opposed local government getting into a long-term purchase agreement with a private company and felt the partnership would be better suited between BC&E and Colusa Industrial Properties, which also plans to purchase low-cost electricity from the company to meet the future needs of the industrial park.
“Let Ed (Hulbert) own 12.5% of the business,” Acree said. “He’s in that type of business. The city is in the business of running the city.”
Mayor Greg Ponciano and Councilwoman Julie Garofalo voted against the agreement, saying they were not comfortable signing on without sufficient “opt outs” to purchase all excess energy – and other financial liability protections. Nor were they comfortable signing an agreement to purchase power prior to having an agreement in place with PG&E to sell to the electric grid.
Herling argued the city would not be on the hook for buying power that cannot be sold to PG&E because BC&E has already initiated the BioMap application and was confident the city will be accepted.
“We’re amenable to working things out because we need to get started,” Herling said.
Vaca and Councilman Ryan Codorniz also supported the agreement, despite some lingering concerns.
City Manager Jesse Cain said the city and BC&E have worked on the project for over one year and further delay would have jeopardized the financial opportunities made available from the federal government that incentivizes small energy companies to control carbon by developing projects that were previously financially out of reach.