Liberty Utilities to Capture Landfill Gas

Liberty Utilities in Londonderry is partnering with RUDARPA Inc. to develop a new renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility at the Bethlehem landfill. According to a statement, this initiative aimed at combating climate change, developing a new source of local renewable energy, and reducing energy costs. The project will help strengthen the landfill’s sustainability profile, while producing renewable energy to serve Liberty’s natural gas customers. The project is based on the landfill’s current capacity, and is independent of any future expansion of the landfill.

According to the 2018 Environmental Protection Agency Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, biological sources account for the majority of methane emissions in the United States. Liberty Utilities’ Renewable Natural Gas project will capture the gas currently being produced by decomposing organic matter at the Bethlehem landfill and process it, so that it will match the chemical composition of conventional natural gas. Liberty Utilities will then provide this locally-produced, clean, renewable fuel to the over 92,000 homes and businesses it serves in New Hampshire.

This project is expected to provide approximately 475,000 dekatherms of Renewable Natural Gas annually in the first 10 years of operation, all of which will be used to serve customers in New Hampshire. A typical New Hampshire home uses about 78 dekatherms of natural gas per year. The supply of RNG from the Bethlehem landfill represents approximately 6 percent of Liberty Utilities’ total annual sales in the state. Capturing, cleaning and using this gas not only combats climate change, it also reduces emissions at the landfill.

“This project will reduce air emissions, develop a local renewable resource, lower fuel costs for our customers and create jobs and economic development in the North Country,” says Susan Fleck, president of Liberty Utilities NH operations. “Liberty Utilities is a leader in the development of renewable energy, and we are thrilled to advance the development of Renewable Natural Gas right here in New Hampshire.”

Liberty Utilities plans to use this new supply of Renewable Natural Gas to serve its customers in Keene, which is currently served via trucked-in propane, as well as customers in the other 31 communities Liberty serves in central and southern NH.