BRP_North_View

Water and Sewer

Bioenergy Recovery Project

Striving to Achieve the City's Sustainability Goals

What you flush today might fuel a bus tomorrow. The Bioenergy Recovery Project is converting Raleigh's biosolids (yes, what you flush) into renewable natural gas. This clean energy will power over 70 GoRaleigh buses daily, making Raleigh one of the first cities in the nation—and the first in North Carolina—to utilize biogas from its own wastewater facility to fuel its vehicles.

This new system makes green energy by producing biogas and uses a modern method to process the biosolids.

For more information, please visit our project page. 

Benefits 

  • This project is focused on creating a renewable fuel mainly for the GoRaleigh bus fleet in the City.
  • It will help decrease the amount of biosolids.
  • Biogas will be produced, gathered, and transformed into renewable natural gas, which will then be sent to a nearby natural gas pipeline.

Project Details

 
Type:
Water and Sewer
Budget:
$227,163,000
Project Lead:
Edward Stempien, PE
Contractors:
Crowder Construction Company (Construction Manager) and Hazen & Black & Veatch (Engineer of Record)

Contact

 

Edward Stempien, PE
Senior Project Administrator
Phone: 919-996-3490 
Office Location: 1 Exchange Plaza Suite 620
Raleigh, NC 27601 

Lead Department:
Water
Participating Department:
Water
Service Unit:
Water Treatment

Subscribe

 

Planning

This project page is complete.

Lead Department:
Water

Design

This project phase is complete.

Lead Department:
Water

Construction

This phase is complete.

Lead Department:
Water

Complete

The Bioenergy Recovery Project has completed its work on a new anaerobic process that uses a unique thermal hydrolysis method. This advanced anaerobic digestion technique reduces the final biosolids produced by over 50 percent compared to earlier amounts. 

The project began in spring 2019 and was completed in summer 2025, culminating in a ribbon-cutting ceremony in fall 2025.

Lead Department:
Water

DateActivity
Summer 2019Project Design Complete
OngoingPermitting Complete
N/AEasement Acquisition Complete
Summer 2019Project Bid Complete
Summer 2019Project Construction Begins
Summer 2025Project Construction Complete

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