San Jose Seeks to Develop Organics-to-Energy Biogas Facility

The San Jose City Council has authorized the city manager to negotiate and execute a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop guidelines and potential lease terms for the development of an organics-to-energy biogas facility on a 40-acre site near the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plan.

If the negotiations for the MOU are successful, the City of San Jose will issue the lease to Zero Waste Energy Development Co. Inc., a partnership between San Jose-based GreenWaste Recovery and its sister company, Zanker Road Resource Management.The MOU also will set forth the guidelines and work plan for the potential lease terms of a biogas project.

For this project, GreenWaste would partner with Harvest Power Inc., a company funded in part by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Menlo Park, Calif., that provides industry leading technology and project development capability to harness the renewable energy in organic waste.

The facility could take in up to 150,000 tons of organic material per year, according to the involved parties. The resulting energy could supply power to the adjacent San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant (Plant) or be sold back into the regional electrical utility power grid.

The Zanker Road Biogas facility would be located on the north side of Los Esteros Road, adjacent to the plant and bound on either side by two solid waste recovery and recycling facilities owned and operated by Zanker Road Resource Management Ltd.

"This project not only demonstrates San Jose's leadership in the production of renewable energy but will help us meet the economic development, zero waste and energy goals of our city's Green Vision," San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed says.

"Creating green jobs that can't be outsourced overseas is essential to rebuilding our local and state economy. Through projects like this, San Jose is becoming the world center for clean tech innovation. The proposed Zanker Road Biogas facility can be a model for other municipalities, showing how this technology can help solve their energy challenges," he adds.

The proposed facility could employ 30 to 40 during development and construction and is expected to create and retain 50 to 60 direct and supporting jobs when fully operational.

The technology at Zanker Road Biogas would use a process known as dry anaerobic fermentation to generate renewable biogas and high-quality compost. Using this technology, which is common in Europe, the proposed facility would be the first of its kind in California and in the United States, according to the parties involved.