New renewable energy facility in Dixon converts methane to fuel

DIXON, Ill. (WTVO) — A new renewable energy facility at the Lee County Landfill in Dixon is now operational, capturing methane gas and converting it into renewable fuel for vehicles.

The facility, built by Ameresco and located at a landfill owned by Republic Services, is designed to address the environmental impact of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is approximately 30 times more harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

“The community has been fantastic as we’ve developed the project. And it can only get better. Cause the reality is that we’re capturing methane, which is not environmentally friendly, we’re processing it, and we’re putting it into a pipe and taking it away,” said Michael Bakas, President of Renewable Fuels for Ameresco.

This is the 15th plant built in collaboration between Ameresco and Republic Services. The renewable energy facility was completed at the end of June.

The plant is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 60,000 metric tons per year, equivalent to the emissions produced by using 870 million gallons of gasoline.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WTVO. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WTVO staff before being published.