Combined Heat and Power (CHP) was an integral part of the facility upgrade to this wastewater plant, with most of the infrastructure built in the 1960’s and 1970’s. To build environmental awareness and enhance Dubuque’s “Green City” image, cogeneration was chosen to use excess biogas flared at the facility in a more thoughtful, future-forward way.

Capstone microturbines were selected to meet the City’s sustainability principles for the facility upgrade with their ultra-low emission technology. The CHP system was designed to produce power for the facility and reuse heat recovered from the exhaust to displace purchased natural gas for thermal requirements.

In this application, electricity was generated using methane biogas without the noise, vibration, and maintenance issues of what a wastewater plant would typically experience from other onsite generation technologies.