Electricity is needed to run lights, computers, mechanical valves and machinery.
And the list goes on. Eight digesters at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant use heat and bacteria to break down the organic solids removed from wastewater, much as our stomachs digest food. One of the by-products of this biological process is methane gas. Methane, a colorless, odorless flammable hydrocarbon gas, is found almost anywhere that organic solids decompose - in mines, marshes, landfills and digester tanks. The methane fuels two generators that can each produce up to 2265 kilowatts of energy per hour, a total of more than 4.5 megawatts .