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For more than 50 years, Ames has been a national leader in waste management.
In the 1970s, the City launched the Arnold O. Chantland Resource Recovery Plant, the first municipally operated waste-to-energy system in the United States. The system was designed to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills by recovering metals and converting a portion of garbage into fuel used to generate electricity.
Over the decades, the system processed thousands of tons of waste annually, helped preserve valuable Iowa farmland from landfill use, and generated enough electricity to power thousands of homes.
Today, however, the conditions that made the system successful have changed.
When the waste-to-energy system was developed, garbage contained far more paper and organic material than it does today. Over time, the waste stream shifted significantly toward plastics and other synthetic materials.
At the same time, the Ames Power Plant evolved. Originally designed to burn coal, the plant was converted to cleaner-burning natural gas in 2016.
The combination of modern waste and natural gas has created challenges that did not exist when the system was first built. Burning refuse-derived fuel (RDF) alongside natural gas causes increased corrosion of boiler tubes, leading to more frequent maintenance, higher repair costs, and longer periods when the system cannot operate as intended.
When that happens, garbage cannot be processed for energy recovery and must instead be transported directly to the Boone County Landfill.
A New Direction for Electric Production
Moving away from waste-to-energy gives Ames Electric Services some much-needed flexibility. The current system requires the Ames Power Plant to remain available to burn refuse-derived fuel. That limits the City's flexibility in today's energy market. Utilities now routinely buy and sell electricity based on market conditions. There are times when purchasing power from other providers is more economical than generating it locally.
Additionally, without the need to burn garbage, Ames Electric Services can invest in more energy-efficient energy generation.
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