Published 09-13-2011 05:58pm
Wentworth, N.C. (September 13, 2011) – The Rockingham County Business & Technology Center today announces it has received a $350,000 grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation to help purchase an electricity generator for Project BizFuel. With these funds, the Center continues its push to develop a renewable energy model for Rockingham County and what hopes to be the first stage of a renewable energy park.
Total funds secured for Project BizFuel now totals almost $1.4 million. Construction on the methane collection system commenced in May, and it is scheduled to be completed by the end of October. A flare unit that will burn unused methane gas is currently being built and is scheduled to be installed by the end of November. Electric interconnect upgrades necessary to feed BizFuel’s electricity to the grid are scheduled to begin in January 2012 and be completed by the end of June 2012.
“Everything is on track to have this project completely installed and operating by July 2012,” said Mark Wells, executive director of the Rockingham County Business & Technology Center. “The final piece for which we need to complete funding is the electric generator, and Golden LEAF just gave us a great boost to make that a reality,” added Wells. $600,000 is the remaining balance needed to complete Project BizFuel, and other grant sources are being sought to fulfill that gap.
“Project BizFuel was highly ranked by the Rockingham County community during the Golden LEAF Community Assistance Initiative process,” said Dan Gerlach, President of Golden LEAF. “The project will continue to benefit the county by reinvesting the revenue from the landfill gas collection into job-creating economic development projects.”
This funding for BizFuel closes out the Community Assistance Initiative Golden LEAF started in Rockingham County a year ago through which Golden LEAF invested $3.3 million to various job-creating projects in the county.