With Mississippi looking to produce more domestic energy from renewable resources, government officials, utility and GE representatives gathered at the Golden Triangle Regional Landfill in northeastern Mississippi to mark the commercial start-up of the state's first landfill gas-to-electricity (LFGTE) project that will support the regional grid.

Owned by the Golden Triangle Regional Solid Waste Management Authority, the LFGTE facility uses aa GE J320 Jenbacher landfill gas engine to generate nearly 1 megawatt (MW) of renewable power”enough to support about 700 average U.S. homes. The engine generates this power by using methane gas from solid waste decomposition, which would have otherwise been wasted by being released into the atmosphere as a pollutant and potent greenhouse gas, as a valuable renewable fuel.

The TVA is purchasing the power from the 4-County Electric Power Association distribution system under the auspices of the TVA˜s Generation Partners program, which supports the production of renewable energy within the utility's coverage area. The energy and associated positive environmental benefits are purchased through the program, which then transfers the right to claim the renewable attributes to Green Power Switch customers.

The Golden Triangle site is the state of Mississippi's first LFGTE project developed to support the regional grid, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) database. According to LMOP, there are more than 558 LFTGE projects throughout the United States that are producing a total of 1,727 MW.

In addition to supplying the Jenbacher gas engine, GE also brought the TVA's Generation Partners renewable energy purchase program to the attention of the GTRSWMA's landfill board. Nixon Energy Solutions, GE's Jenbacher gas engine authorized distributor in Mississippi, delivered the unit to the site before it was installed by SCS Field Services.