An energy company wants to convert gases from a northeast Iowa sewage lagoon into power. Planergy Capital of Minnesota wants to capture gases produced by waste from two Waterloo factories and convert those gases into electricity.
Those gases — emitting from a sewage lagoon used by Eagle Ottawa Tannery and the Tyson Foods pork processing plant — are now burned off with a large torch that runs continuously.
Under a four-year agreement finalized this week, Planergy would pay the city of Waterloo 10-thousand dollars per month for use of the treatment lagoon. In exchange, the city would provide the land for the energy company to set up equipment that would turn the gas into electricity.
Under terms of the deal, the city would also receive 60-cents for each million unit of methane that’s produced by the lagoon. If all goes as planned, Planergy will begins operations in Waterloo early next year.