Waste Management To Build 55-MW Waste-to-Energy Plant in Maryland

The facility, which will be the first new greenfield waste-to-energy plant to be constructed in the U.S. in more than a decade, will be located in Frederick County Maryland. The plant will be capable of processing up to 1,500 tons per day of municipal solid waste with an electric generating capacity of 55 megawatts.

Upon a positive vote from both counties’ Board of Commissioners, the permitting and approval phase will begin this spring and will take approximately two years, followed by a 3-year engineering and construction period. Waste Management said that the projected completion date for the facility is 2014. At the height of construction, the project is expected to employ 1,000 workers engaged in excavation, concrete work, electrical work, fabrication and steelwork. Once completed, Wheelabrator expects to employ approximately 50 full-time employees to operate the plant.

“We conducted an extensive search of proven technologies to help us recover the energy in the counties’ non-recycled municipal solid waste. The new facility, if approved, will provide 100 percent of the counties’ governmental electricity needs, making the two counties among the first in the nation to achieve energy independence while significantly reducing carbon emissions,” said Robin Davidov, executive director of the NMWDA. “We believe Wheelabrator will help the counties move toward a more fully integrated waste disposal system that also includes the roll-out of a single-stream recycling program with an ambitious recycling goal of 60 percent.”