news-record.com

The key to boosting Rockingham County’s economic outlook could lie in its landfill on Shuff Road.

There sit two closed cells that trap methane gas that county officials say could lead to green-powered jobs and an influx of industry.

Rockingham County is considering using the gas to generate electricity and selling carbon credits to industries that produce greenhouse gas.

The county became interested in using its landfill gas for business and industry purposes about three years ago, said Mark Wells, executive director of the Rockingham County Business & Technology Center.

The county has been participating in a pilot project with the Appalachian State University Energy Center. Researchers there conducted a study to determine the quantity of gas in the Rockingham landfill.

The study and subsequent tests confirmed it was enough gas to make the effort worthwhile, and this summer county officials are moving forward with the project.

Wells said in June that the county will pursue a federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation block grant to pay for a $693,000 collection system. Wells also planned to send out a request for proposals so construction of the system can begin immediately if the grant is approved.

If things go as planned, Wells said, the system could be completed by the end of the year.

“It will happen,” Wells said of the project. “I don’t care how many grant applications I have to write, it will happen.”

In his position with the Business & Technology Center, Wells provides new business owners with the skills they need to be successful. His obvious interest in the methane project is job creation. The county would need to hire people to manage the collection system, he said, although it’s hard to say how many jobs the project would create initially.

It’s a multi-phase project, he said, that would first involve flaring the gas and getting the carbon credits as a revenue source that the county would reinvest to procure economic development projects.

Wells said he hopes the project will spur new businesses and industries to move close to the power source. The county could pipe methane and sell it to a business as a heating source or for other uses.

With a medium-size landfill, Wells said, Rockingham County has one of the largest gas resources among the groups working with ASU officials.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle. davis@news-record.com