The cleanest and greenest waste-to-energy power plant in North America is coming online June 2015 in West Palm Beach, Florida, and county residents will be able to see how it works Saturday, June 27, 2015. The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County and our consulting engineer partner ARCADIS, along with our construction partners KBR and Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc. (B&W) will unveil Palm Beach Renewable Energy Facility 2, the first waste-to-energy power plant built in the United States in more than 15 years.
REF2 Grand Opening day
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Public Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting
6751 N. Jog Road in West Palm Beach
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Official ribbon cutting ceremony at 11 a.m.
Watch a time lapse of construction
View construction pictures on Pinterest
Read the News Releases on First Fire
Residents can expect:
- An open house picnic with free food and drinks
- To sort recyclables on the interactive touch-table line
- To see the 3-ton claw feed the machine
- To be amazed at how much garbage Palm Beach County residents throw AWAY!
Palm Beach Renewable Energy Facility 2 is special, as it:
- Uses state-of-the-art air pollution control technologies, making it the most advanced and cleanest waste-to-energy power plant in North America
- Babcock & Wilcox Vølund DynaGrate™ technology to provide for more complete combustion of waste
- Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) for nitrogen oxides (NOx) control
- Processes more than 1 million tons of post-recycled municipal solid waste annually (at capacity)
- Provides enough power for an estimated 44,000 homes and businesses (that is enough power for all the homes in Boca Raton, FL)
- Recycles an estimated 27,000 tons of steel, aluminum, copper and other metals annually after the trash is burned
- Reduces reliance on the Palm Beach County landfill by up to 90%
- Incorporates water conservation measures, including recycling process waste water, air cooled condensers, and rainwater collection in a 2 million gallon cistern
- Features a LEED(R) Platinum designed Education Center that will be the centerpiece of the public education activities and will be open to the public for private tours and events year-round
- Offers museum-type interpretative exhibits
- Incorporates a 500 foot skybridge to connect the two facilities
Construction statistics for Palm Beach Renewable Energy Facility 2:
- Cost - $670 million
- Groundbreaking - April 2012
- Concrete used - 50,650 cubic yards
- Pilings drilled - 5,000
- Miles of cable - 379 miles or 2.05M linear feet
- Miles of piping - 37 miles
- Local labor - 36%
- Local vendors - $135M
- Re-bar - 9.35M pounds
- Structural steel - 15,600 tons
- Stack height - 310 feet
Forty years ago, the Florida Legislature created the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County, a governmental agency, through the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Act. Since then, SWA has dutifully served Palm Beach County’s residents and implemented an award winning Integrated Solid Waste Management System that takes care of the processing and disposal of the County’s trash and recyclables. This will be the second waste-to-energy facility the SWA manages.
ARCADIS is the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm working in partnership with clients to deliver exceptional and sustainable outcomes through the application of design, consultancy, engineering, project and management services. ARCADIS differentiates through its talented and passionate people and its unique combination of capabilities covering the whole asset life cycle, its deep market sector insights and its ability to integrate health & safety and sustainability into the design and delivery of solutions across the globe. ARCADIS is 28,000 people who generate $3.5 billion in revenues. ARCADIS supports UN-Habitat with knowledge and expertise to improve the quality of life in rapidly growing cities around the world. ARCADIS is proud and excited to be the Authority’s partner in this landmark project. To learn more, visit www.arcadis-us.com.
KBR, Inc. is a global technology, engineering, procurement and construction company serving the hydrocarbons and government services industries, employing around 25,000 people worldwide with customers in more than 70 countries and operations in 40 countries across three distinct global businesses:
- Technology & Consulting, including proprietary technology in refining, ethylene, ammonia and fertilizers, and gasification; and niche consulting and know-how through Granherne/Energo and GVA
- Engineering & Construction, including Upstream Oil & Gas; LNG/GTL; Downstream Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals and Chemicals; and differentiated EPC
- Government Services, including program management and long term annuity contracts
KBR is proud to work with its customers across the globe to provide technology, value-added consulting services and integrated EPC skills to ensure a consistent project delivery with predictable results. At KBR, we deliver. To learn more, visit
http://www.kbr.com.
B&W is proud to have designed the advanced combustion and environmental systems for this plant – the newest and most-advanced municipal waste-to-energy facility in North America – and is part of the project team that has overseen its construction and commissioning. B&W also will operate the new facility. To learn more, visit www.babcock.com.
