RI methane gas burning plants gets $15m boost

Associated Press

JOHNSTON, R.I. - The company building a methane burning power plant at the Rhode Island's Central Landfill has received $15 million in federal stimulus funds from the US Department of Energy.

The grant to Rhode Island LFG Genco will help expand the plant that that generates electricity by burning the methane gas given off by the decomposing garbage.

The proposed 42-megawatt plant was supposed to cost $80 million. Stephen Galowitz, a managing director in charge of development and marketing, tells the Providence Journal that the cost has risen to about $100 million.

Galowitz and Michael O'Connell, executive director of the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Authority, the state agency that operates the landfill, said construction should begin this spring.