10 MW renewable energy solution fueled by biogas from Latin America’s largest landfill site

Aggreko has signed a seven-year contract with Brazilian energy company EVA Energia for a 10 MW renewable power solution using landfill gas. The world’s leading provider of mobile and modular power solutions will deliver a complete system, producing power from biogas derived from two locations: Seropédica (Rio de Janeiro State), the largest landfill site in Latin America, and Mauá (São Paulo State).

Aggreko will provide a flexible, fast and cost-efficient way of delivering cleaner energy for approximately 40,000 households in the region, achieving a carbon saving of more than 100,000 tons over contract’s life. The innovative solution uses landfill gas that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. The total amount of methane emissions avoided totals 24,440,400 Nm3 annually.

The biogas is recovered via a series of wells drilled into the landfill. These wells are connected by a pipe system, which collects the gas and transports it to a compression system, where it is filtered, de-watered and pressurised. From there, the gas is piped to a power generation plant, where it is used as fuel to generate electricity, before being passed on to power local homes in the region.

Aggreko will deploy a turnkey solution, comprising of a total of eight 1.25 MW generators across the two sites, providing a total of 10 MW power. The highly efficient gas generators employ the latest technology to enable the effective use of landfill gas as fuel and reduce emissions at both sites, surpassing regulatory standards significantly. The systems will be managed by Aggreko’s leading Remote Monitoring software, meaning trained engineers will control and maintain the performance of the generators remotely. Aggreko will be responsible for the installation, operation and maintenance of the entire system for the contract’s duration.

The Seropédica landfill is the largest in Latin America, with a capacity of up to 10,000 tons of waste per day, with the Mauá site, located in Sao Paulo state, receiving more than 3,000 tons per day. The Seropédica and Mauá landfill sites have the potential to produce 73 million cubic metres of biogas each year, preventing harmful carbon dioxide and methane emissions from being released into the atmosphere and instead harnessing it to provide power for local residents.

EVA Energia operates in power and natural gas commercialization, distributed generation, and biomethane sales and is a joint venture between the GNPW Group and the Urca Energia Group. Both work with distributed generation, alternative fuels and energy technologies. The companies are also part of Evolution Power Partners (EPP), developer of more than 5 GW in natural gas generation projects in Brazil.

Commenting on the news, Pablo Varela, Managing Director, Aggreko Latin America, said: “As the third largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions in the world, landfill biogas is an underutilised resource for power generation. As the energy transition continues to gather pace, we know that our customers are increasingly looking for sustainable but simultaneously flexible power solutions that help them drive efficiencies, while also supporting their carbon reduction targets. Landfill gas is ideal to support delivery of these goals and our power solutions help customers around the world to benefit from this fuel.”

“At Aggreko, we have optimised our generators so they can run efficiently on future fuels like biogas, with this providing a cost effective and less carbon intensive alternative to thermal fuels. For Seropédica and Mauá, our team will work alongside EVA Energia to use the gas produced by the landfill site, which will be used to power homes and businesses in the surrounding area.”

The project is the latest in a series of successful ventures in the region for Aggreko, which recently announced plans for a 26 MW solar hybrid solution at Salares Norte mine in Chile, as well as a number of hybrid and storage solutions for customers in Argentina and Brazil.

• Most Read
• Most Commented