ACUA Wind Farm and Waste Water Treatment Plant

Opened in 2005, the Leeward Renewable Energy, LLC. completed the 12.5 million project of building 5 wind turbines on the site of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority's wastewater treatment plant in Brigantine, New Jersey. The initial waste water plant was built in the 1970s, but due to lacking technology, the surrounding back bays were unusable for recreation due to all the bacteria that existed. In recent years, all treatment plants in Atlantic County were converted to pumping stations to move all waste water to the Brigantine plant. Laws would be implemented requiring the plant to receive a 85 percent clarity of water before pumping it the 1.2 miles into the ocean to diffuse with the sea water. With modern technology the plant is now getting approximately a 95-98 percent clarity in the treated water. The process though requires 2.5 megawatts a day. The wind turbines save ACUA 500 million dollars a year due to a reduction in price when using the turbines. The turbines annually make 60 percent of the electricity used by the plant. When wind speeds are above 12 miles an hour, only 2 wind turbines are required to run the plant and the rest of the energy is sold back to the grid. The plant also produces electricity though solar, landfill gas(methane), and the burning of bio-solids. The plant is not 100 percent renewable due to the fact that the solar and wind power don't produce electricity every day due to varying weather conditions.

After touring the plant myself, I strongly believe ACUA is a leading example how a daily process like waste water treatment can be made renewable with even better technology. The theory that wind turbines kill many birds was disproved by a study done over 3 years. The study concluded that each year a turbine would kill 2 birds. A small price for clean renewable energy.

ACUA Wind Farm