FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 14, 1999
Contact: Bill Norman (520) 884-3625
TEP, Partners Dedicate Renewable Energy System Using Landfill Waste Gas to Generate Electricity;
‘GreenWatts’ Program Would Support Such Systems
At a ceremony to be held on Wednesday, December 15, Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP), Zahren Alternative Power Corp. (ZAPCO) and the City of Tucson will dedicate a new, large-scale application of renewable energy resources.
The 2 p.m. event at the city’s Los Reales Landfill, 4600 S. Swan Rd., heralds Arizona’s first commercial use of landfill gas (methane) to generate electricity. TEP also becomes, by far, the state’s largest producer of renewable energy.
As waste in landfills decomposes, it produces methane and carbon dioxide, two potent "greenhouse" gases that can add to local smog, escape into the environment and contribute to global warming. They also pose explosion hazards and odor annoyance to nearby communities.
"Landfill gas piped from Los Reales to TEP’s Irvington Generating Station will be burned to produce electricity for 4,000 Tucson area homes," said James S. Pignatelli, TEP Chairman, President and CEO. "Methane is a clean-burning fuel, it’s economical, and using it reduces our dependence on other fossil fuels. This project is ‘win-win’ for all concerned."
Connecticut-based ZAPCO built and owns the methane collection system, pipeline and gas-processing facility which gather and prepare methane for transmission to TEP.
In a development directly related to the methane project, customers of TEP soon may have the option of supporting the use of renewable energy technologies that one day could constitute the basis of most electric generation systems.
TEP’s proposed voluntary GreenWatts program, if approved for implementation by the Arizona Corporation Commission, would allow the company’s electric customers to pay a slightly higher electric rate in return for obtaining electricity which has been generated by renewable energy systems such as that involving the Los Reales Landfill and TEP’s Irvington Generating Station.
For utilizing renewable energy, GreenWatts subscribers would be assured that revenues from the program would be devoted solely to the cost of building, operating and maintaining new and existing renewable power sources statewide.
TEP’s sister company, Tucson-based Global Solar Energy, produces other important renewable energy systems. Its thin-film photovoltaic technology has progressed to large-scale manufacture of flexible and extremely durable materials which produce electricity when exposed to sunlight. The company’s photovoltaic systems soon will be incorporated in new Tucson residential communities and produce additional kilowatts of electricity from the sun.
"In the near future, renewable energy systems such as these, in concert, will meet increasingly larger segments of America’s electrical needs. Our cooperative enterprise with ZAPCO and the City of Tucson represents one of the most productive, environmentally conscious and dramatic examples of this concept," Pignatelli said.
UniSource Energy’s other affiliates include Nations Energy Corporation, an investor in independent power projects; and Southwest Energy Solutions, a regional energy services company.