The municipal wastewater generated across Nashville may soon be transformed from an everyday byproduct into a multimillion-dollar windfall for the city. Under a proposal currently advancing through the local legislature, municipal officials are seeking to monetize sewage treatment emissions by converting them into pipeline-ready green energy.
The Metro Nashville Council is evaluating a pair of landmark agreements between Metro Water Services and a Virginia-based infrastructure firm to develop a commercial renewable natural gas facility. City leaders emphasize that the capital project will establish a dependable source of clean fuel while delivering substantial financial returns directly into public coffers.
Under the plan, the developer would capture biogas generated during sewage processing at the Metro Water Services biosolids installation on Cement Plant Road. The captured gas would then be refined into pipeline-quality renewable natural gas and injected directly into a nearby utility distribution network.
The legislative measures authorizing the associated gas rights and property lease agreements took a major step forward after passing their second reading on Sept. 15. However, the proposal still requires a third and final approval from council members before the contracts can be formally executed, after which the facility would require an estimated two years to become fully operational.
The private partner selected for the venture is Burnham, an infrastructure development firm headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The enterprise routinely collaborates with public utility providers across the nation to modernize municipal wastewater systems, decrease operating overhead, and expand sustainable energy production.
According to the contractual terms, both the gas rights accord and the site lease feature a baseline term of 20 years. The agreements also include provisions allowing for two additional five-year extensions, provided that both the municipality and the developer mutually agree to continue the arrangement.
Burnham will assume full responsibility for financing, engineering, constructing, owning, and maintaining the processing infrastructure. This structure enables the city to implement advanced green utility technology without incurring the significant capital expenditures typically associated with constructing specialized industrial plants.
To accommodate the new installation, Metro Nashville will lease approximately 1.2 acres of municipal land at 1815 Cement Plant Road to Burnham. The lease agreement establishes a nominal annual rent of $1 per year to be paid to Metro Water Services over the life of the contract.
In return for the steady supply of raw biogas, the developer will distribute a portion of the financial proceeds generated from gas sales and associated environmental attributes. A fiscal note presented to the council specifies that Burnham must pay quarterly royalties totaling a guaranteed minimum of $1 million per calendar year.
These royalty disbursements will be calculated based on 70% of the net revenue collected from marketing the renewable natural gas produced on-site. The revenue model also relies on the accumulation and sale of renewable energy credits, which provide additional monetization opportunities for clean fuel generators.
According to regulatory frameworks established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, renewable energy credits are generated whenever one megawatt-hour of clean electricity is produced and supplied to the power grid. These marketable certificates allow power producers to distinguish green energy from conventional fossil fuel sources, enabling environmentally conscious consumers to purchase credits to offset their consumption.
Should the gas rights contract receive final legislative authorization, Burnham will be obligated to initiate physical construction within 18 months of the agreement's effective date. The developer must then bring the facility to full commercial operation within six months after breaking ground.
The primary fuel source for the project originates from the everyday treatment of municipal wastewater, which enters treatment facilities carrying human waste, residual food scraps, industrial oils, and household chemicals. During the multi-stage treatment process, liquid effluent is separated from solid matter, with the latter being treated to produce nutrient-rich biosolids that meet federal EPA standards for soil conditioners and agricultural fertilizers.
A concurrent output of this purification process is biogas, which is naturally released through anaerobic digestion—a biological phenomenon where specialized bacteria break down dense organic material in an environment devoid of oxygen.
The Metro Water Services facility in Germantown generates an average of 1.5 million cubic feet of biogas every day. Historically, the vast majority of this methane-heavy output has been flared off using waste gas burners, venting potential energy value into the atmosphere without capturing economic benefits.
The implementation of Burnham’s proposed facility will fundamentally alter those operations, allowing for the complete beneficial reuse of 100% of the biogas generated at the Cement Plant Road facility. If given final clearance by the Metro Council, the project will close the loop on Nashville's wastewater management by turning daily emissions into a steady stream of green energy and municipal revenue.
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