Camden County's Municipal Utility Authority is now generating all of its own electricity.
The utility is sending 1 million gallons of treated and filtered effluent for cooling water per day to the Covanta Camden Energy Recovery Center, officials said.
In return, Covanta is sending excess electricity from its trash-to-steam operation back to the CCMUA, making it independent of the electric grid.
SOUTH JERSEY READ: We're weird in South Jersey, and damn proud of it
Its energy independence will reduce vulnerability to power outages, ensure reliability during a natural disaster and cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in electrical costs
The exchange will also reduce the CCMUA’s carbon footprint.