An Israel-based company that has its small U.S. operations based in Charlotte has started construction on a $27 million plant here to produce electricity from food waste.
The 5.2-megawatt plant is being built on 6 acres off Johnson Road in northeast Charlotte. It is owned by Blue Sphere Corp. of Evan Yehuda, Israel. Financing was arranged by Entropy Investment Management.
The work is being managed by engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor Austep, according to a published report in Biomass Magazine.
Entropy is a Charlotte renewable-energy investment firm that last year bought a majority stake in the former Argand Energy Solutions here.
The 5.2 MW facility for generating electricity from biogas derived from organic biomass (primarily food waste) will utilize anaerobic digestion (a process that breaks down organic material) to produce biogas (primarily methane and carbon dioxide), from which electricity will be generated, Blue Sphere reports.
Preliminary long-term agreements have been reached for the supply of biomass input from large companies (e.g. LoIs with large-scale haulers) and a PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) for the sale of electricity output, the company says.