Mexico's First Landfill Gas Capture Facility

Renewable energy business ENER-G (UK) has partnered with the Municipality of Aguascalientes to open Mexico's first landfill gas capture facility at San Nicolás landfill, Aguascalientes, in central Mexico.

ENER-G Natural Power and its sister company Biogas Technology are generating clean electrical energy from biogas for use by Nissan at its manufacturing site in Aguascalientes. The power generated is being sold over a long term power purchase agreement with the car maker.

ENER-G's renewable energy project will help Mexico deliver on its bold new Climate Change Act, which will commit Mexico to cutting its carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent by 2020, and by 50 per cent below current levels by 2050, and to generate 35 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2024.

Nissan is the first automotive plant in Mexico to use electricity from biogas, and it is the first project of its kind for many Nissan manufacturing plant in the world.

The Nissan production site, which makes March, Versa and Sentra cars, receives 2.475 megawatts (MW) of clean energy - sufficient to produce 37,000 vehicles per year.

The £4.4 million investment by the ENER-G group will reduce carbon dioxide emissions at the landfill site by approximately 90,000 tons per year. This is equivalent to the environmental benefit of 7,045 hectares (17,409 acres) of pine forest.

The 42 hectare (104 acre) landfill site, which is owned by the Municipality of Aquascalientes, receives household, commercial and industrial waste. A total of 3.9 million tons of waste is currently deposited at the site, which has been in operation for ten years.
The two- phase biogas generation project started in 2006 when ENER-G group company Biogas Technology was appointed by the Municipality of Aquascalientes to collect and destroy the biogas emissions by flaring. These emissions comprise mainly methane gas, a harmful greenhouse gas, which is 21 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide.

This was the first project in Mexico to be registered with the United Nations under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), part of the Kyoto Protocol. Under CDM, certified emission reduction credits are provided for each ton of carbon dioxide saved, which can then be traded internationally to offset emissions by large polluters in the developed world. So far, Biogas Technology has delivered 200,000 tons of carbon reduction benefits, equivalent to the environmental benefit of 15,656 hectares (38,686 acres) of pine forest. This has generated significant economic benefits for the Municipality of Aguascalientes..

The second phase of the project involved ENER-G Natural Power installing two 1.6 MW biogas generators as part of a six month build programme. This has involved arranging the sale of electricity to Nissan Mexicana and arranging export to the site over a distance of approximately 20km. The clean electricity is transported via overhead lines through a supply contract with the Federal Commission of Electricity.

Due to the effect of 'thin' air at the high altitude of the San Nicholas site, ENER-G Natural Power was required to install an oversized 3.2 MW system to achieve the desired de-rated capacity of 2.5 MW electrical capacity. The biogas supply is expected to last for at least 15 years.

The biogas generation facility was officially opened by Carlos Lozano de la Torre, Governor of Aguascalientes; Lorena Martinez, Mayor of Aguascalientes, as well as federal, state and municipal accompanied by senior executives of ENER-G Natural Power, Biogas Technology and Nissan Mexicana.