Ansonia last week moved one step closer to a new way of dealing with sewage disposal.
The Board of Aldermen Tuesday (Sept. 13) approved an agreement to lease city land to New York-based Greenpoint Energy Partners, which wants to build a sewage-to-energy plant.
“This is an exciting opportunity for our city and our taxpayers,” Board of Aldermen President Stephen Blume said during the meeting.
The lease allows Greenpoint to use about 2 acres at the city’s public works complex for $1 a year as long as Greenpoint builds and operates the “anaerobic digestion” plant.
Inside the facility, large tanks would house microorganisms and bacteria, which would eat up the sewer sludge and other waste and turn it into a biogas that can be used to power turbines for energy.
Blume said the project would save the city in two ways: Ansonia would buy its energy from Greenpoint at a lower rate. (See power purchase agreement at the end of this article.)
Blume said the city is still negotiating that lower rate. The city would also save on the cost of getting rid of the sewage — which Blume said cost about $700,000 last year.
“Now we have a chance to use part of the waste stream, which is the (sewer sludge), along with food waste to create class one renewable energy and turn those liabilities into assets while becoming a green community,” Blume said.
The city publicly announced its plans at a meeting in June. Representatives from Greenpoint Energy were at that meeting to answer questions. At the time, Greenpoint representative Chris Timbrell said the project would be funded from two places: Grants, and private investors.
In June Timbrell said the company was working to secure funding so they could move forward with the plans.
It’s not clear if Greenpoint has secured any money yet. Timbrell did not respond to a message seeking comment Wednesday.
Article continues after purchase agreement.
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Blume said he hoped to be able to pass the energy savings on to Ansonia businesses as an enticement for coming to and staying in the city.
Click here for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ‘Anaerobic Digestions 101’ fact sheet.
Public Concern
Joan Radin, the chairwoman for the Republican Town Committee expressed concerns about the plan during the public comment session at the meeting.
Radin said the process should have been more open.
“You’re going to pass this,” Radin said. “But I don’t understand why the people in Ansonia are not being told the property is being leased for nothing.”
“I just think the people of Ansonia should have been told about this,” Radin said.
Blume responded by saying that he has been working on the project for two years, and has been open about it. He said the plans still have to go before Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands to get approval — at which point the public will be able to see the detailed drawings of the proposed building.
