Republic Services, Fortistar and Duke Energy dedicated a new, state-of-the-art landfill gas-to-energy plant in North Carolina on Thursday. The facility initialy began commercial deliveries of renewable power to Duke Energy Carolinas in February.

“Although we are leaders in increasing energy output at landfills, it’s projects like this one that get us really excited,” said Republic Services Area President Jamey Amick. “To be able to take yesterday’s trash, and from it, generate enough energy to power more than 7,700 homes…now that’s something to celebrate.”

Fortistar recently finalized the construction on the 11.5-megawatt renewable energy facility, called Concord Energy Renewable Gas to Energy Plant, at Republic Services’ CMS landfill in Concord, North Carolina.

The Concord Energy facility utilizes landfill gas to fuel two Solar Taurus turbines, each capable of generating over 5.5 megawatts, and combined with the associated landfill gas conditioning and compression equipment, will meet the total electrical energy needs of nearly 7,700 North Carolina residences.

“Landfill gas-to-energy projects are an important part of Duke Energy Carolinas’ commitment to deliver renewable energy to its customers in a cost-effective way,” said Owen Smith, managing director of Duke Energy’s regulated renewables business. “The company will continue to look for good projects, like the Concord Energy project, to meet our state’s renewable energy requirements.”