Commonly known as waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, facilities that burn municipal solid waste (MSW), or garbage, in boilers to produce steam are a small but steady source of electric power in the US.
Over the last decade, WTE plants in the US generated around 14,000 GWh of electricity each year, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Power Plant Operations Report. Although that amount accounts for less than 1% of electricity generation in the US, the facilities are a consistent source of baseload power. Baseload power is electricity that is generated at a steady rate all the time to meet electricity demand.
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Power Plant Operations Report
At the beginning of 2022, 60 WTE plants were operating in the US, with a total generating capacity of 2,051 MW. The plants are located throughout the country, and the majority are in urban areas along the East Coast. WTE plants are relatively small, with an average size of 34 MW. No single WTE plant currently in operation has a generating capacity greater than 100 MW.
Fuel for WTE plants is primarily composed of residential solid waste but also includes some non-hazardous wastes from commercial, institutional and industrial sources.
WTE plants benefit from having access to a reliable, inexpensive energy source as part of their role in helping to dispose of MSW. Often WTE plants receive tipping fees, which are payments to facilities to take waste materials. However, despite the low cost of the energy source and the tipping fees, which can be an additional source of revenue, WTE facilities tend to be expensive to build and operate, especially to control emissions.
About 90% of the energy produced by WTE plants is delivered to the electric grid. The remaining 10% consists of steam that some WTE facilities send to nearby industrial plants and institutions.
WTE plants burn two types of MSW. One is made up of biogenic components, mostly consisting of organic material, including paper. The other is made up of non-biogenic material, such as plastics. Over the past several years, the share of non-biogenic material being combusted has increased because more plastics and less paper and paper products are being discarded.
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Power Plant Operations Report
The increased share of non-biogenic material typically improves the output from WTE facilities because certain plastics have a higher heat content than many biogenic materials, such as yard trimmings. In 2022, WTE facilities consumed 16.0 million tonnes of biogenic waste material and 10.3 million tonnes of non-biogenic waste material.
Principal contributor: Mark Morey
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