Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County Completes Harrisburg Waste-to-Energy Unit Buy

The Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) Solid Waste Management Authority (LCSWMA), has officially purchased the former Harrisburg, Pa., waste-to-energy facility.

The Lancaster, Pa.-based LCSWMA said in a news release that it acquired the Susquehanna Resource Management Complex (SRMC), formerly known as the Harrisburg Resource Recovery Facility, for $129.9 million.

As part of the deal, LCSWMA receives $16 million toward the purchase price, with $8 million from the previous owner and $8 million from Pennsylvania.  The purchase features 20-year waste disposal contracts with the city of Harrisburg and Dauphin County, in addition to a 20-year power purchase agreement Pennsylvania’s Department of General Services.

The project represents the first public-to-public acquisition of a WTE facility in the United States and was a key ingredient in relieving the distressed city of Harrisburg from more than $360 million of debt.

LCSWMA’s newly expanded system now will manage about 900,000 tons of solid waste with annual revenues of about $85 million.

“After three years of intense exploration, planning, negotiating and preparations, I’m thrilled to say that we are the new owners of the oldest operating WTE facility in the United States,” said James Warner, LCSWMA’s CEO. “This innovative, strategic acquisition will provide the region with future waste processing capacity and offer additional flexibility to LCSWMA’s already robust integrated system.”

As new owner, LCSWMA is now fully managing the site, which includes an 800 tons-per-day, 3-boiler mass burn WTE facility, a transfer station and two ash landfills.  Covanta Energy will continue operating the WTE facility portion of the site under an amended agreement with LCSWMA.