The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District has selected CH2M HILL to lead the design of its Gas Turbines Replacement Project, which will replace two 38-year-old natural gas turbines at the Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility with five 4.6-MW turbine systems capable of using landfill gas or natural gas.
This green energy project will provide the District and its customers significant benefits–including up to $145 million in energy cost savings over the next 20 years, as well as a 50 percent reduction in the plant’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. This project follows a related CH2M HILL effort for MMSD: a greenhouse gas inventory, which defined the baseline against which MMSD is measuring greenhouse gas reductions that will result from projects such as the turbine replacement.
The turbine replacement project entails much more than a straightforward power generation facility design. It includes complexities related to waste heat utilization and critical interfaces with solids drying systems. Waste heat from the combustion will be used to dry wastewater sludge to create Milorganite, a fertilizer product. Addressing these complexities required teamwork between CH2M HILL’s Water and Power Business Groups–a collaboration that will continue throughout project delivery. The estimated constructed value of the project is $43 million.