Agriculture and Renewable Energy (ARE) Park

The Agriculture and Renewable Energy (ARE) Park offered low cost green power and heat produced from the gas-to-energy facility. The ARE Park focused on regional industry strengths like agriculture and provided an attractive, low cost, shovel-ready site for companies looking to invest and create jobs in Central New York.

Madison County Renewable Energy Project - January 11, 2012

Madison County's renewable energy projects and economic development efforts at their new ARE Park. On the cutting edge of renewable energy. Watch this video for more information: Madison County Renewable Energy Project

Johnson Brothers Lumber

Johnson Brothers Lumber, a company from Cazenovia NY, was the first business at the ARE Park. In 2015, they installed five lumber drying kilns which went online in March 2016. Their freshly cut lumber is purchased from a 90 mile radius of Johnson Brother's Cazenovia mill in Central New York and they utilized excess heat from the gas-to-energy facility to dry out their lumber.

Landfill Gas to Energy Plant

The Madison County Dept. of Solid Waste previously entered into an agreement with Waste Management to run the landfill gas to energy facility. Due to a combination of low landfill gas flow and low market-driven electrical sales rates, the landfill gas to energy plant was removed.  Currently, the landfill gas is being collected and directed to the flare for combustion. 

Historically, the landfill gas to energy plant worked via: 

  1. Anaerobic bacteria digests the organic waste that is placed in the landfill and produces methane gas as a by-product.
  2. The methane gas is recovered by a piping system that transports it to the gas to energy facility.
  3. The gas is dewatered, filtered and pressurized, then used to run the 20 cylinder CAT engine.
  4. The 1.4 megawatt system generates enough electricity to power nearly 1,200 homes annually.

To learn more about how the landfill gas to energy plant used to work, watch:
Madison County Landfill Gas to Energy Project
Electric Power from Landfill Gas