Mighty River Landfill Electricity Generation
Mighty River power generates electricity at three landfill sites, two in Auckland (Greenmount and Rosedale), and one near Wellington (Silverstream). Landfills produce gas which typically consists of 55% methane and 35% carbon dioxide, with some nitrogen and other trace gases. The methane gas produced by these landfills is combusted in turbo-charged gas engines to produce electricity. Mighty River has produced 626 million kWh of electricity for the year, ending June 2004.
Methane gas is a significant contributor to the greenhouse effect and effective destruction of methane gas to generate electricity helps to reduce the country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.
The following link describes the generation capability at the three landfill sites.
Mighty River Landfill Electricity Generation[PDF 164kb]