West County Wastewater (WCW), based in Richmond, Calif., has announced plans for a comprehensive energy, infrastructure, and process improvement project designed to significantly reduce the organization's carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions.
The infrastructure upgrade project could reduce West County Wastewater's overall greenhouse gas emissions by 93 percent at WCW's Water Quality and Resource Recovery Plant and is expected to save more than $83 million over the project's lifetime.
"To us, community and environmental stewardship is about more than providing wastewater services," said Andrew Clough, WCW deputy general manager. "It is about working together to encourage and employ healthy industry and environmental practices that will benefit the region, our communities, and our ecosystem for years ahead."
Led by low-carbon energy company ENGIE North America, the initiative will include significant upgrades to WCW's Water Quality and Resource Recovery Plant: including two new digesters, an addition of 1.1 megawatts (MW) of solar power generation, a thermal sludge drying system, and solids dewatering, among other improvements.
"This project is one of the most impactful energy, infrastructure, and process improvement programs in the United States," said Stefaan Sercu, managing director at ENGIE North America. "Our alliance with WCW will serve as a proof point for the benefits of the comprehensive energy collaboration approach. Wastewater treatment is an especially energy-demanding operation — but wastewater districts that take advantage of ENGIE's expertise at the energy-water nexus can make the improvements necessary for the reliability of their equipment, safety of the local community, and environmental sustainability."
Historically, biosolids produced by WCW have been sent to landfill due to the fact they did not meet the high-quality standards required for beneficial reuse. By generating Class A biosolids, suitable for agricultural and other reclamation uses, these upgrades would eliminate organic material being sent to landfill. This will prepare the organization for new regulations and reduce ongoing disposal costs. The project will also result in a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the decomposition of sludge in the landfills.
ENGIE will implement the plant improvements and maintain the installed equipment over the next 20 years under an energy savings performance contract. ENGIE is targeting a 4.2 million kWh reduction in WCW's annual energy use.
The scope of the project comprises a 1.1 MW solar power system, LED lighting, electric vehicle charging stations and wastewater treatment plant upgrades including a new grit separation system, rotary drum thickeners, a high efficiency aeration blower, new digesters, a 450 kW cogeneration system powered by biogas from the digester, a sludge dewatering system, a sludge thermal dryer system, and equalization basins. Together, these systems' onsite generation will meet close to 100 percent of the district's facilities and wastewater treatment electricity needs.
