ARLINGTON, Va. — Pepco Energy Services Inc., a leader in energy savings performance contracting, and DC Water have signed an agreement for Pepco to design, build, and operate a combined heat and power (CHP) plant at DC Water’s Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (AWTP).

Pepco Energy Services will design and build the CHP plant for $81 million. The project will produce at least 14 MW of electric power that will supply the Blue Plains facility with nearly 30 percent of its average power demand.

In addition to designing and building the CHP plant, Pepco Energy Services will provide on-site operations and maintenance services valued at more than $89 million over the 15-year contract term. The overall project is valued at approximately $170 million.

The new CHP plant will be an integral part of DC Water’s new thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion project, which will be the largest in the world. The thermal hydrolysis process uses high-pressure steam from the CHP plant to increase the rate of biogas production and neutralize contaminants in waste streams.

The CHP plant will include three Solar Mercury 50 low-nitrogen oxide gas turbines, digester gas cleaning and compression equipment, heat recovery steam generators, duct burners, a backup boiler, electrical equipment needed to operate in parallel with the utility grid and ancillary systems, including water treatment and process control systems.

The CHP system is expected to reduce DC Water’s greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 40 percent, as well as reduce the risk of increased disposal costs and provide a hedge against increases in future power costs.

Construction will begin in August and is due to be completed in December 2014.

For more information, visit www.pepcoenergy.com.

Publication date: 04/02/2012