Energy from King County landfill to power homes

WASHINGTON STATE - A new project to convert methane gas from a King County landfill into energy could generate enough electricity to power about 24,000 homes.

King County, Puget Sound Energy and Bio Energy-Washington are teaming up to capture methane gas from decomposing garbage at a Maple Valley landfill.

Bio Energy-Washington is building and operating a facility at the landfill. The company expects to deliver methane gas from the garbage to Puget Sound Energy by the end of April.

PSE will collect, process and pipe the energy to its natural gas-fired power plants. The utility says it will buy the methane gas from Bio Energy-Washington at competitive rates.

Officials say the project is the third largest of its kind in the nation.