New wastewater methane-to-power project launched in Tennessees
In Tennessee, Chattanooga’s Moccasin Bend Environmental Campus is launching a project that will generate electricity from wastewater methane, a move expected to significantly reduce the campus’s roughly $300,000 monthly energy costs while turning a treatment byproduct into a reliable on-site energy source.
The Mainspring system will allow MBEC to produce much of its electricity on-site, offsetting about one-third of its electric bill and eliminating routine methane flaring. Generating power at the campus will also strengthen grid reliability by reducing dependence on outside electricity during periods of high demand or disruption.
Once fully operational at three megawatts, the installation will rank among the largest municipal biogas-to-power projects in the Southeast and represents a step toward stabilizing long-term energy costs for ratepayers while advancing Chattanooga’s broader sustainability goals.
MBEC selected Mainspring Energy to install six linear generators this year, producing an initial 1.5 megawatts of electricity using methane captured during wastewater treatment processes. Six additional generators are planned following campus upgrades, doubling total generating capacity.
Category: Fuels
