News and Events

January 9, 2020

Fortistar Demonstrates How it Turns Trash into Energy at Prince William County Recycles Day 2019

Fortistar will Sponsor an Educational Booth and Tour at the Prince William County Landfill on Oct. 12th

Fortistar, a sustainability-focused private company helping to facilitate the transition to a carbon-free economy, knows that a landfill is more than just a landfill—it is an opportunity to provide a valuable environmental service, generate revenue and supply power for thousands of homes and businesses. That is the case at the Prince William Landfill where, for 22 years, Fortistar has supplied clean, sustainable and reliable electricity to the residents of Prince William County.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane gas emissions in the U.S. These methane gas emissions from landfills represent an opportunity to capture and generate a significant energy resource.

Fortistar financed, built and operates the landfill gas plant, which collects the methane from the landfill to convert into energy. The energy is then purchased by Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) and used to power thousands of local homes. Producing power from landfill gas displaces the need to produce power from traditional fossil fuel sources. Based on the average emissions for conventional electricity production, Fortistar’s Prince William Energy landfill gas to energy facility produces the same electricity with 20,992 tons less of CO2 per month. That is equivalent to planting 8,504 acres of trees or removing 6,853 passenger vehicles from the road.

“Fortistar gets the gas for its power plant from approximately 100 strategically placed gas extraction wells in the Prince Williams landfill. When the gas gets to the power plant, it is converted into energy. The energy produced from the gas can power at least 5,000 homes,” said Bernie Osilka, Engineer III and one of Saturday’s landfill tour guides. “We are extremely excited for Saturday’s event. In past years, we’ve had crowds of over 1,000 people, and I look forward to a similar turnout this year.”

“Prince William County has been a great partner over the years, and we are honored to sponsor and be a part of their Recycles Day event once again,” said Mark Comora, President of Fortistar. “Our firm has operated in dozens of landfill gas to energy projects, and we are extremely proud to be a part of Prince William County Landfill’s success story.”

This Saturday’s free event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and includes landfill tours, as well as many games, prizes, food, music and art—a great event for the entire family. Fortistar welcomes the public and the media to learn how waste is transformed into community value.

For more information about Prince William Recycles Day, please visit https://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/publicworks/trash/Pages/NewsandEvents.aspx.

To learn more about Fortistar’s LFG to energy projects across the U.S., visit www.fortistar.com.