Landfill owner and operator AB Lime has bought a 1 megawatt electricity generation plant which could provide power to "hundreds of Winton households".
AB Lime general manager Steve Smith said the high-tech plant was the first of its kind in the Southland area and he was excited the facility now had the capacity to generate power for the community.
"It has been so exciting to finally get our own generator and being able to do something useful with the gas," Mr Smith said.
"The amount of power ... could service up to 800 households in the Winton area."
The Jenbacher unit was shipped over from Austria last month after 12 months of planning, and cost the company $3million.
The operation of the new plant meant the company now had the means to "convert gas in a positive way", for the community.
The company’s aim was to build on good environmental practices and heavy investment into the plant was about "taking steps in the right direction".
Generating electricity from the plant rather than using electricity was one of the company’s achieved goals.
The generator took the gas from the landfill and burnt it into a matter that could be used as a source of energy.
The unit has a 1500-horsepower engine.
A technician from Clarke Energy in Australia took a week to install the plant and ensure it was operational.
The plant functioned much like a dam or a wind farm but using gas.
The general manager hoped the addition of the new plant to the limeworks and landfill operations, would provide awareness on the "positive things modern landfills were doing for their communities".
The containment facility welcomed the public and community groups to visit the landfill and experience the different environmental initiatives that were on offer.
The company has a 63ha native block where it runs a rehabilitation and predator eradication programme.
There is also an on-site dairy farm and plans are under way to build walking tracks through the Motu Ngahere (Island of Bush) native bush.
