General Motors (GM) is pouring in USD11 million into its Fort Wayne Assembly Plant in Indiana. The automaker announced on Wednesday that the facility will soon have a mini power plant to provide energy for 40% of its operations, according to Indiana's NewsCenter.
This strategic investment will save the company USD5 million a year. Company officials say the move is aimed at improving the environment and decreasing their carbon footprint, the report said.
Since 2002, the Fort Wayne facility has been using landfill gas to produce steam for its boilers. For that project, the firm built a pipeline to bring in the gas from the landfill which is nine miles away. Now, a new structure is being built to house several generators that can produce energy from landfill gas, the report explained.
State Senator Dennis Kruse said of this new power plant project, "We may not be able to build more power plants to produce the electricity needed in the next 15-20 years. So we have to do other things to rely on our sources of electricity."
GM is also implementing the same project at its assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan. The firm expects the Fort Wayne landfill gas project to start running by May 2014, Indiana's NewsCenter reported.
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