Virginia Beach proposes $30 million project to turn sewage gas into energy for 5,000 homes

Residents across the Hampton Roads region could soon see everyday household wastewater help power their neighborhoods, under a newly proposed $30 million venture from the Hampton Roads Sanitation District and Virginia Natural Gas.

Transforming Wastewater Byproducts Into Pipeline Fuel

Operating out of an existing wastewater treatment site in Virginia Beach, the proposed facility aims to capture and purify biogas that is naturally created during normal treatment routines. Right now, this gas is produced through anaerobic digestion—a biological process where organisms break down solid waste without oxygen. Instead of capturing the resulting mixture of methane, carbon dioxide, and trace gases, the plant currently burns it off using a flare. The new project intends to intercept that process entirely.

Developers plan to install purification equipment that cleans the biogas so it meets pipeline standards. A 200-foot connecting pipe will then carry the fuel directly from the treatment facility over to existing utility lines operated by Virginia Natural Gas, which currently provides service to about 315,000 homes in the region. According to project projections, the completed facility will generate enough renewable natural gas to supply 5,000 households each year.

“This project demonstrates how collaboration can transform a byproduct of wastewater treatment into a renewable energy resource that benefits our environment, strengthens our region’s energy future and advances our commitment to sustainability,” said Jay Bernas, general manager and CEO of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, in a statement reported by the Virginia Mercury.

Rate Impacts and the Cost Recovery Timeline

While the engineering relies on established waste streams, the financial structure depends entirely on local utility customers. Virginia Natural Gas intends to file an official request for cost recovery with the State Corporation Commission within the next four months. If approved, the $30 million project cost will be absorbed directly by the utility’s customer base.

For the average residential household, the immediate hit translates to an estimated 36-cent increase on monthly utility bills. However, project representatives argue those costs will eventually level out. Carl Garofalo, a representative for Southern Company Gas, explained that the utility plans to monetize the project’s environmental attributes to offset customer expenses.

“We’re monetizing the environmental attributes for the project, and using that to minimize rate impact,” Carl Garofalo said. “We do forecast, in the out years of the project, that we will actually provide a benefit to the customers in the form of possible bill credits.”

Those anticipated credits remain forecasts rather than guaranteed savings. Over time, the utility also expects the facility to reduce the volume of traditional gas the company needs to purchase from outside suppliers, potentially easing market pressures.

Precedents Across the Commonwealth

Virginia is not entirely unfamiliar with this infrastructure. In 2022, the Western Virginia Water Authority teamed up with Roanoke Gas Company to construct a smaller-scale renewable natural gas facility on the grounds of the Roanoke Regional Water Pollution Control Plant. That facility achieved full operations in 2023, generating enough gas to supply roughly 500 homes—about one-tenth of the output anticipated from the upcoming Virginia Beach installation.

Virginia Beach proposes $30 million project to turn sewage gas into energy for 5,000 homes — Photo: virginiamercury.com

Beyond treatment plants, utility planners are keeping an eye on larger organic waste sources. Landfill sites across the region currently produce roughly five times the gas output of typical municipal wastewater facilities, presenting a much larger potential footprint for future energy capture.

At the same time, state lawmakers have tightened rules around other wastewater outputs. Following acute community concerns over exposure risks, a new Virginia law restricts the use of agricultural biosolids—the leftover sewage sludge utilized as farm fertilizer—based on concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, widely known as PFAS or forever chemicals.