Wastewater treatment operations are very energy intensive and as energy costs continue to rise, particularly in the Northeastern U.S. where electricity prices are between 30 to 40% higher than the national average, energy management is an increasingly critical operational issue. NBC’s FPWWTF, the largest in the State of Rhode Island and the second largest in New England, has a peak electrical power demand of 2.0 Megawatts and NBC’s BPWWTF, the second largest WWTF in Rhode Island, has a peak electrical power demand of 1.5 Megawatts. As such, NBC is one of the top 20 users of electricity in the State of Rhode Island.
In 2005, the NBC began to study the potential use of available renewable energy resources at both the FP WWTF and BP WWTF. As a result of these studies, the NBC successfully erected three 1.5 Megawatt wind turbines at the FPWWTF in 2012—the state’s first wind farm— and completed construction on the Biogas Combined Heat and Power at BPWWTF in 2018. In 2016, the NBC purchased three additional 1.5 Megawatt wind turbines in Coventry, Rhode Island, and in 2017 entered into an agreement with Green Energy Development to construct two 5 Megawatt solar farms. The goal is to achieve 100% of the energy required for NBC operation from renewable sources.
Upcoming projects to help reach this ambitious goal include a solar carport and transition of the NBC fleet to electric vehicles.