In the United States (US), startup Nodal Power, Inc., a company that develops and operates landfill gas (LFG) to energy power plants, has announced that it has raised a US$13 million seed round to aggressively mitigate methane emissions at landfills.
Landfill gas (LFG) contains methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) that is 25 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide (CO2), which makes it a much more impactful gas on which to focus mitigation.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that landfills account for approximately 14.3 percent of fugitive methane emissions in the United States.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) data suggests that the EPA is underestimating the amount of methane being released into the atmosphere as a result of an outdated approach to measuring methane emissions.
Thus reducing any methane emissions as fast as possible can have a large, positive environmental impact.
Targetting smaller landfills
By combusting LFG in a generator, Nodal Power reduces carbon emissions compared to flaring or venting and creates beneficial use for an otherwise wasted resource.
A developer of patent-pending landfill gas-to-energy data center technology and systems, Nodal Power’s technology has the potential to significantly reduce GHG emissions from landfills.
Much of the funding from undisclosed backers has already been deployed by Nodal Power to build and operate two power plants in the United States.
Site one, located in the southeast US, exports electricity generated by LFG to the local utility. This site is also equipped with a data center, which allows for economic dispatch between the utility and the data center.
Site two, located in the Mountain West, runs a first-of-its-kind fully sustainable off-grid data center powered by LFG.
Additional funds will be deployed at a third US site in early 2024. All three sites produce renewable electricity from methane gas generated by the decomposition of organic waste at landfills.
We’ve developed solutions, specifically for smaller landfills, that allow us to bring these overlooked resources to market. Our technology and energy-first approach has the potential to make a significant impact on local energy markets, said Bryan Black, CEO of Nodal Power.
