Schenectady’s Water Pollution Control Plant announces $7M project | News

The City of Schenectady’s Water Pollution Control Plant unveiled a $7 million project Wednesday.

According to a statement by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the project will allow the facility to save a significant amount of energy. It includes a combined heat and power (CHP) system that produces biogas and also uses an internal combustion engine to create electricity.

“By generating electricity from biogas and capturing the extra heat to help with processing waste, the City of Schenectady is getting a two-for-one deal in clean energy,” said Francis J. Murray Jr., President and CEO of NYSERDA. “Combining anaerobic digestion and CHP makes sense at any facility that processes a large amount of organic waste materials. The city should be commended for its effort to reduce its energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.”

NYSERDA provided a $1 million award toward the cost of the CHP project. The new equipment will help the plant generate an estimated 1,800 megawatt-hours of electricity per year from the biogas. That is enough to power more than 275 private homes for a year.

According NYSERDA, this will offset the energy costs of the plant and, along with other improvements will save an estimated $300,000 in energy costs each year.

“The city is very pleased to see the wastewater treatment achieve greater energy efficiency while continuing its modernization efforts,” said Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy in a statement. “I want to thank NYSERDA for its generous support in helping the plant serve our local residents the best way it can.”

The Schenectady plant treats an average of 14 million gallons per day of wastewater and the plant serves about 85,000 area residents in the city, Scotia, Alplaus, Glenville and portions of Niskayuna and Rotterdam.

A U.S. Department of Energy grant of $600,000 helped to pay for some of the work at the plant.