The Dan Region (Shafdan) wastewater treatment plant, which is the biggest of its kind in Israel, will generate 11.2 MW of renewable on-site power. The plant, owned by Mey Ezor Dan Cooperative Agricultural Water Society Ltd (MED), is the largest wastewater treatment plant in Israel and treats municipal wastewater for 2 million people in central Israel.
MED, with engineering consultant CDM Smith, designed the new bioenergy facility that will consist of eight anaerobic digesters with a volume of 13,200 m3 each. The facility will also include one of the world’s largest staged-thermophilic anaerobic digestion processes.
To improve the treatment plant’s efficiency and reduce its environmental impacts, MED is installing the anaerobic digestion system and biogas cogeneration plant to provide on-site heat and power to run the digesters as well as power for the rest of the Shafdan site.
The project ties in with the Israeli government’s support of expanding biogas energy production through the creation of a special feed-in tariff that makes such renewable energy projects more economically viable.
The new biogas power plant is scheduled to start commercial operation in 2015 and is expected to serve as an important model for other similar projects in Israel and throughout the world.
“We are very pleased to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of our Jenbacher biogas engines, which can help MED and other industrial operations in Israel reduce the environmental impacts of their activities while also helping them capture and reuse their own waste products as a ‘free’ energy resource," said Karl Wetzlmayer, general manager, gas engines for GE Power & Water.