Council launches energy conservation initiative

Effort builds on big successes at wastewater treatment plants

From filling our cars with gas to paying our electricity bills, rising energy costs are affecting our household budgets.

Feeling the pinch, too, is Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES), the Council’s operating division in charge of wastewater collection and treatment for the seven-county metro area. Energy expenditures make up the second-largest piece of the MCES operating budget, at about 15 percent.

View of the Metro Plant's Solids Management Building

This bird’s-eye view of part of the Solids Management Building at the Metro Plant provides a sense of the impressive size of the facility. The building houses three massive incinerators.

Lindeke checking heat exchange system thermometer

Dennis Lindeke, an assistant business unit manager at Eagles Point Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cottage Grove, checks the thermometers that help monitor a thermal heat exchange system in the administration building at the plant. The building uses 70 percent less energy than a building designed to meet state energy code.

“We’ve done much over the past several years to reduce our energy costs,” said Bill Moore, MCES general manager. “However, with rates continuing to rise, we realize that further reductions are needed. We’re launching an energy initiative with a goal of reducing our energy costs by 15 percent by 2010 and increasing our use of renewable energy.”

Energy team is leading conservation initiative

Earlier this year, Moore established the MCES Energy Team to review a variety of energy issues and recommend energy strategies and policies that will help meet this and future energy-reduction goals. The team of managers, engineers, scientists and planners also will continue MCES’s pursuit of energy grants and rebates. MCES plans to hire an energy manager before the end of 2006 to work with the Energy Team and the wastewater operations staff to get a better recording of how much energy is used for specific functions, identify areas of potential energy savings and implement the necessary changes.

Other components of MCES’s energy conservation initiative include:

Working with Xcel Energy to develop a strategic energy management plan.
Using energy forward pricing mechanisms to, in essence, lock in about 80 percent of the projected natural gas usage for next year at a set price. This would help hedge against potential price increases as well as provide budget stability. It is a strategy similar to that used by Metro Transit for diesel fuel price hedging.
Working with the University of Minnesota to develop partnerships for renewable energy projects.
Incorporating more alternative-fuel vehicles into its fleet. MCES began doing this in 2002, and by the end of 2006 will have 12 E85 flexible-fuel vehicles and three hybrid vehicles in the fleet. The overall plan is to continue replacing aging vehicles with energy-efficient and/or alternative-fuel vehicles.
Implementing anaerobic digestion in the solids processing at the Blue Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant in Shakopee. Methane gas will be produced and utilized at the facility, thereby reducing external energy needs.
Making energy-saving changes to operation and maintenance processes.

MCES has a strong record of conservation success

MCES is counting on its new energy conservation initiative to build on previous energy reductions, among them:

Reducing electrical costs by 25 percent at treatment plants by retrofitting air diffusion systems in a portion of the wastewater treatment process. This effort also earned MCES $1.7 million in rebates through Xcel Energy’s Conservation Improvement Program, which rewards customers for taking steps to save energy.
Realizing energy savings from the new Solids Management Building at the Metro Plant, which has been operating since late 2004. The new incineration equipment uses about 80 percent less natural gas, cutting costs by about $3 million annually. Recovering heat from the process helps heat the plant and generates electricity, saving about $600,000 annually in avoided electricity costs. These efficiencies earned a $960,000 rebate in 2005 from Xcel Energy.
Participating in peak-shaving programs, in which MCES sets up agreements with electric utilities to alter its processes or use back-up generators to free up designated amounts of electricity on high-energy-demand days — typically a half dozen extremely hot summer days. In exchange, MCES receives a reduced electricity rate year-round. All eight MCES treatment plants and 19 of its 59 lift stations participate in these kinds of programs, saving more than $300,000 annually.

“Saving energy not only has financial and environmental benefits, it also helps support state and national efforts to become more energy independent,” Moore said.