Use of Renewable Energy by a Medium Sized Wastewater Treatment Facility Feasibility and Financing

Municipal wastewater treatment operations are designed to reduce the health and environmental impacts of wastewater disposal but in so doing create other environmental impacts primarily through large quantity energy consumption. Rising energy costs, increasing energy demands associated with regulatory required advanced wastewater treatment standards, heightened public awareness and concern regarding global warming and greenhouse gases along with recent government and market economic incentives have combined to make distributed electrical generation using sources of renewable energy socially and environmentally desirable and economically achievable. This paper looks at various renewable energy opportunities available to wastewater treatment facilities and describes the efforts being put forth by the Narragansett Bay Commission in the State of Rhode Island to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of using biogas an wind as energy resources.