EBMUD Is in The Energy Selling Business
East Bay Municipal Utility District is now selling electricity. This may not seem like news because a lot of people get their electricity from EBMUD. But what I'm talking about is the new wast to energy plant they have installed has made EBMUD the first utility that makes more electricity than they use so they are able to divert that extra energy back to the grid. That should also keep prices lower for their users as well.
What is a Waste To Energy Plant?
A waste to energy plant is a power plant that uses a waste product to produce energy. In the old days they would burn say byproducts from a sawmill to produce electricity and many of those plants have since been converted to gas plants but in the case of EBMUD their waste to energy plant works off of decaying organic wastes.
How Does EBMUD's Waste to Energy Plant Work?
EBMUD takes all the solids filtered out of the millions of gallons of sewer that they take in every day then they mix that with the other waste streams such as winery waste, cheese waste, chicken blood and restaurant grease and as this concoction decomposes it creates methane. This methane is used to fire two brand new turbines that were just installed and these turbines are what produce the electricity. They produce enough electricity for their current needs and are able to sell some back to the grid. I think this can be a model for the state and maybe other lard utility districts. It takes waste streams out of the sewer and makes them into something we all need electricity.
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