OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California utility is using a new turbine and truckloads of chicken blood, food scraps and other waste to produce more electricity that it uses.
The Contra Costa Times (https://bit.ly/HnRgv6) says Oakland's East Bay Municipal Utility District has been generating electricity from sewage gas and other waste since the 1980s.
The $32 million power plant expansion unveiled this week makes use of aggressive waste collection.
Truckloads of food scraps, chicken blood and cheese factory waste are put into large vats where bacteria chomp on it, producing methane gas to fuel the plant's turbines.
The new 4.6 megawatt turbine increases the plant's capacity to 11 megawatts, or enough for about 13,000 homes.
The plant uses about 4.5 megawatts and the excess is sold back to the grid.
Information from: Contra Costa Times, www.contracostatimes.com