Green Knight has not been boasting much about how much it will get for its waste heat...
3.4 pennies per dollar - while it lasts...
Now, Mr. Albanese is the treasurer, so he probably knows his facts when it comes to finances. Green Knight Vice President Robert Cornman, Jr stated at an August 2019 DEP hearing "between $100,000 and $200,000 a year," but that is likely due to publication of Mr. Albanese's comment. Note that $100,000 is included in the range Mr. Corman, Jr stated - just at the very bottom. These are the only two instances that Green Knight has addressed this issue since November 2016 when the project first became known to the community. It is doubtful that Green Knight renegotiated its contract since Mr. Albanese's statement. If this project is of such great benefit, Green Knight would publish the contract for all to see, and/or have boasted a lot more than twice about its expected income.
An analysis of the potential income for Waste Management and Synagro was posted here. It is millions of dollars per year for each. In that analysis, the cost of natural gas to operate a belt dryer similar to the one proposed for the Synagro plant to dry biosolids with similar water content to Synagro's was found to be $21.67 per wet ton processed.
Synagro will process 400 tons of wet shit a day 24/7, or 146,000 tons a year. At $21.67 per ton, that is a total cost of $3,163,820 annually using 100% natural gas.
Synagro project manager Jim Hecht has stated multiple times that Synagro plans to run on 84% waste heat and 16% natural gas until the landfill closes (projected 2028 in a Waste Management publication dated 2017).
So, at break even, Synagro would pay 0.84 * $3,163,820 = $2,657,609 for Green Knight's waste heat. But Green Knight accepted a "maximum of $100,000" for this same quantity of energy - which is 3.4 cents on the dollar.
Green Knight will get 3.4 cents to replace $1 of natural gas - Deal, or No Deal?
In Punta Gorda FL, Synagro gives over $300,000 annually to the community for processing 50,000 wet tons of shit, compared to $100,000 maximum for the 146,000 tons proposed here. Do the math. Any way you slice it - including the absurd 100% slop in Mr. Cornman, Jr's range, Green Knights made an absolutely horrible deal. If the wheels at Green Knight consider this good economic development, well here is a newsflash - it clearly is not. It is excellent economic development for Waste Management as well as pure corporate greed - and sadly it appears that Green Knights is focused on the interests of Waste Management rather than those of the community. Recall the only reason Green Knight exists is because Waste Management by utility regulations was unable to sell electricity from its landfill gas to electricity operation to the grid itself. This project has revealed the true stripes of Green Knight.
Only "green" that remains is potential income for Waste Management and Synagro
Green Knight is virtually giving away its waste heat, and will get $0 per year after 2030
Green Knight states its mission is to help the economically distressed citizens of the community. What they have done is sponsor an environmental disaster that will bring malodors, water and air pollution to the community, in exchange for pocket change that is far and away not worth the opportunity cost. And after 2030, a mere 8 years after the shit factory opens, Green Knight will have nothing to sell to Synagro. No one would boast about that.
It was clear from the first few months that this is not at all the "green" project it is cast to be. 300,000 gallons of toxic wastewater daily first proposed to be disposed of in a creek will be hauled away by tractor trailer. Then the plant and its handling and traffic operations were moved to within a few feet of a freshwater pond. The main selling point - Green Knights' waste heat - will no longer be available in only 8 years for a plant designed for a 25-year lifespan. The product, biosolids pellets containing over 350 known pollutants according to the EPA Inspector General, will be distributed to farmland throughout the area for either free or a very low cost. Synagro can't give this stuff away in some areas. Green Knight doesn't even make enough waste heat to power the plant. After 8 years, the plant will convert to 100% natural gas.
After a planning commission meeting in 2018, at which Jim Hecht admitted that the plant can be profitable running on 100% natural gas (obviously it can, since it will have to after 2030), Green Knight member and Board member Steve Hurni exclaimed "I just realized something. Synagro doesn't need our waste heat at all!" Yup - that's correct Steve.
After a planning commission meeting in 2018, at which Jim Hecht admitted that the plant can be profitable running on 100% natural gas (obviously it can, since it will have to after 2030), Green Knight member and Board member Steve Hurni exclaimed "I just realized something. Synagro doesn't need our waste heat at all!" Yup - that's correct Steve.
Green Knight is virtually giving away its waste heat, and will get $0 per year after 2030
In the late 1990's Pen Argyl Concerned Citizens and later Green Knights were seeking a company that Green Knights could sell its waste energy to in the neighboring industrial district. A company that would provide many good manufacturing jobs and be a positive economic development for the community, It became clear after 5 years that no such company would locate nearby, Waste Management has resurrected the idea strictly out of self interest and reaping millions a year out of its property, not as a benefit to the community. Green Knight went along, instead of doing the obviously correct thing and saying "no" since this is a glaring negative for the community. In the process they also struck a deal for 3.4 pennies on the dollar for their waste heat - something they would never have accepted from an unrelated business back in the late 1990's through 2003. It would be far better to let that heat go up the stack. John Reinhart was correct in his assessment of Green Knights' choice to get involved in this project - this is bad for the community, and bad for Green Knights.
What's in your wallet?
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