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OCEAN COUNTY LANDFILL EQUIPPED TO PRODUCE ELECTRICITY
Route 70 Plant Turns Gases Into Energy
By Bill McLaughlin
 | | Freeholder James Lacey spoke during a ceremony honoring Charles J. Hesse III and ushering in technological upgrades he envisioned for the Ocean County Landfill, Route 70, Manchester. |
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OCEAN COUNTY - A second plant capable of turning gases, produced by the 750-acre Ocean County Landfill, into electrical power was dedicated Thursday to the late Charles J. Hesse III. His wife Marianne and son Larry hosted the dedication of the plant, which went on line in May.
The landfill project is a two-plant collection system which turns about 4,800 cubic feet of methane per minute into 14.4 megawatts of power on the local grid through JCP&L and PSE&G plants. That's enough energy to power 14,000 homes or light 144,000 100 watt bulbs.
Manchester residents benefit to the tune of $1.2 million in revenues produced as a result of its operation, plus real estate taxes of $110,145.73 and free and reduced disposal costs amounting to another $1,124,766.20.
The county landfill project monitors surrounding neighborhoods for odors on a daily basis, tends to the active waste pile with a continuous use of cover material and caps off piles when they reach recommended final height. They are then fitted with porous pipes which collect gases produced through waste decomposition.
 | | This equipment will help turn methane gas, produced by the landfill's waste, into electricity. |
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There is also a direct pipeline for treated leachate to the Ocean County Utilities Authority and a double composite liner encircling the waste piles.
Larry Hesse said his father first toyed with the idea of using every by-product of the waste in the early '90s and turned it into reality when the first plant was completed in 1995.
"Methane gas into electricity, it seems like a no-brainer. But it was no mean feat to pull off. A lot went into it. But he was committed to the environment, to the community," the younger Hesse said. "In 1981, he took (the landfill) over and turned a garbage dump into a state-of-the-art disposal center. He could have gone two ways, but my father always went the high road."
The elder Hesse died last November when the new plant, which sits alongside the original, was already under construction. The plants are not far from the Route 70 entrance to the facility, the last remaining active dump site in the county.
"He assembled the A Team of sanitary landfill construction," Larry Hesse said. "He was a true leader who partnered with the community."
Ocean County Freeholder James F. Lacey, the board's liaison to environmental issues, said Hesse had a profound personal effect on him.
"I didn't finish college before I met Charlie, and he found out," Lacey recalled. "He'd nudge me occasionally and ask when I was going back. By that time, I had a good job and started a family, but Charlie wouldn't let it go."
Lacey said he was nagged until he finally gave in and went back to school.
"At age 47, I finished college," he concluded, "largely because of Charlie gently pushing me."
Lacey told an audience of about three dozen current and former employees and environmentalists he had a personal stake in Charlie Hesse's dreams.
"I'm glad you followed through with this," Lacey said. "This was Charlie's dream. I always considered him something of a visionary. Who ever thought a landfill could be what this is?"
The two plants are hardly labor intensive with only five employees manning them. All the power produced is currently sold to JCP&L but could be rerouted throughout the northeast power grid.
The plant is self-sufficient, in that it can generate its own power during a local area outage, but could import power if there's a systemic breakdown.
The new plant features 20-cylinder Caterpillar turbine engines, slightly larger than the 16-cylinder models used a decade ago.
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