Birmingham seeks developers for landfill-gas project at two city landfills

Birmingham is seeking private developers to study, design and develop a potential commercial landfill-gas project at the city’s Eastern Area and New Georgia landfills.

The City of Birmingham Department of Public Works issued the request for proposals July 10. The solicitation seeks a developer to finance, permit, build, operate and maintain facilities that could capture landfill gas for commercial energy use or other marketable products.

No developer has been selected, and the city has not approved or begun construction of an energy facility. Birmingham is still accepting sealed proposals.

What Birmingham is seeking

The proposed arrangement would place responsibility for planning, permitting, financing, design, construction, operation, maintenance and environmental monitoring with the selected developer.

The developer could market and sell landfill gas, energy, tax credits, environmental attributes or other marketable products. The request does not require a particular end use, so any eventual project would not necessarily produce electricity.

The project covers both Eastern Area Landfill and New Georgia Landfill, which the city owns and operates.

How much gas is available remains uncertain

The request for proposals says neither landfill currently has an active landfill-gas collection and control system. It also says no recent testing or analysis has established the quantity or quality of gas available for a commercial project.

That leaves the project’s scale, technology, infrastructure and potential end users unresolved. The city is seeking proposals that address those questions rather than announcing a confirmed energy output or revenue amount.

Any environmental or neighborhood effects would depend on the final design, permitting and operating plans. The solicitation requires the developer to address environmental compliance monitoring, control systems and potential effects involving air, water, noise, odors, traffic and landfill operations.

How the city could be paid

Birmingham’s proposed contract would provide for payments based on metered gas quantities and measured quality, or through a mutually agreed revenue-sharing arrangement.

The request does not establish a final payment amount. Public revenue would depend on the gas available, the value of products sold, the agreement reached with the developer and the final contract terms.

The initial contract term would be 20 years, with up to two optional five-year extensions at the city’s option.

Bid deadlines

Companies interested in responding must submit questions by 5 p.m. CDT Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. Birmingham has scheduled answers to questions for 5 p.m. CDT Monday, Aug. 24.

Proposals are due by 5 p.m. CDT Monday, Sept. 21. They must be mailed or hand delivered to the Department of Public Works at 501 6th Avenue South in Birmingham. The RFP says proposals sent by fax or email will not be accepted.

The city’s published schedule calls for a short list on Oct. 5, developer interviews on Oct. 19, a notice of award on Nov. 20 and an anticipated contract start of Jan. 2, 2027. Those dates remain part of the procurement schedule and do not guarantee an award or project construction.

What residents should watch next

The next significant public developments would be the eventual selection of a developer, permit applications, proposed collection and processing equipment, environmental monitoring requirements and the contract’s payment terms.

Until those actions occur, the Birmingham landfill-gas effort remains a procurement opportunity. It could create a future source of commercial energy or other marketable products and a possible payment stream for the city, but the project’s size, timing, cost and financial return are not yet known.

Sources

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