Due to a reporting error this story misstated the price of constructing a waste transfer station. It will cost $5 to $7 million. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Orange County commissioners finalized an agreement with UNC on Tuesday to capture gas from the county landfill and convert it into energy.
The $5.5 million project will benefit both the University which will gain a clean electricity source and the county to which UNC will pay a monthly fee for the gas.
UNC will fund the entire project.
County revenues from the deal will be used to cover the millions of dollars involved in constructing a waste transfer station to replace the county landfill set to close in 2011.
UNC will use electricity generated from the captured gas to power Carolina North its proposed research campus.
The environmentally friendly energy source will also help offset the environmental footprint of the campus.
Some residents are also asking commissioners to use revenues to improve infrastructure in the Rogers-Eubanks Road community" which is next to the landfill.
""We have full faith that this is a desirable project" Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey said. It will be beneficial to the community" to the environment and … to UNC's goal to be carbon neutral.""
The deal — more than one year in the making — grants UNC full rights to the landfill's naturally generated gas.
Recent disagreements about the project's timeline between the county and the University delayed the process.
County staff said they are afraid the deal would transfer rights to the landfill gas to UNC without guaranteeing a final completion date.
UNC officials said they are worried the University would not be able to get permits from local municipalities to build the gas-capturing system in the county's suggested five-year limit.
UNC plans to build a 2.2 mile underground pipeline to a facility where the landfill gas can be converted into fuel. That pipeline will require extensive permitting.
""We don't want to make a bunch of investments and all of sudden we can't get a permit and five years comes and boom" we're thrown out of a deal" said Carolyn Elfland, associate vice chancellor for campus services.
But commissioners said Tuesday that negotiations have gone on long enough.
We've lost a year's worth of revenue"" commissioner Mike Nelson said. Continuing negotiations for me just isn't an option.""
The county will receive up to $140"000 annually with an additional $40000 annually at most from the sale of renewable energy credits. The county's planned waste transfer station will cost about $4.7 million.
Landfill gas occurs naturally from the decomposition of solid waste.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
