Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has signed a $21 million, 15-year deal to buy landfill gas in Texas from Shell Energy North America to expand its renewable energy supplies. The contract calls for 6 billion Btu/d.

Most of the supplies will be cleaned methane gas from a landfill near Dallas, supplemented by a variable amount of conventional natural gas. “The proportion of renewable gas will increase as the landfill project is fully developed,” a spokesperson said.

Landfill gas is produced by decomposition in the landfill. The California Energy Commission has pre-certified that electricity produced by Shell landfill gas will qualify as renewable under the state renewable portfolio standard (RPS) program.

The Sacramento, CA, utility said the landfill gas will fuel its natural gas-fired Cosumnes generation plant, which is the public-sector utility’s most efficient gas-fired generator. “The landfill gas will provide between 200 and 300 GWh of renewable power annually, or about 8% of SMUD’s renewable target in 2010,” the spokesperson said.

Electricity produced from the landfill gas will cost about $90/MWh, SMUD said.

“The cost of this supply is higher than our expected energy prices for nonrenewable energy, but lower than the expected cost of renewables,” said Barry Brunelle, SMUD natural gas operations supervisor.

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