Will County finance committee members heard an operations and budget update on the county's renewable natural gas facility on May 6, 2025, with county project manager Greg Comperda reporting stronger production in parts of 2025 but a disruptive mechanical failure in March.

Comperda said the plant produced roughly 68,600 MBTUs in February and ran about 94.7% of the month into the pipeline; he described that month as “a great month.” He told the committee that March production fell to about 51,254 MBTUs, with runtime near 66%, after two identical vacuum/compressor motors failed and a single spare proved insufficient. April, he said, returned to near‑steady operations with runtime above 95% and an estimated gross revenue of about $1,150,000 for that month.

The update emphasized operational causes and near‑term fixes rather than policy decisions. Comperda described the March outage sequence: “one of those failed early in March. We had a spare motor. We installed it… then we lost the second unit about 6, 7 days later,” and he said the vendor rebuilt motors quickly to limit downtime. He also outlined procurement steps: county staff have a purchase‑order request for additional spare motors (each motor costed in the presentation at roughly $35,000–$38,000) so each critical compressor will have a dedicated spare. Comperda said the county will also order a replacement chiller motor and increase on‑site spare inventories to limit repeat outages.

Dave Hartke, introduced as director, land use RA division, described monitoring and maintenance practices. “There’s an electronic monitoring system… that monitors the bearing heat,” he said, adding that operators use greasing schedules and temperature monitoring to avoid catastrophic failures. Hartke and Comperda said the two motors that failed had run about two years straight and that wear, vibration and alignment are likely contributors; both emphasized that replacements were aligned and performance improved afterward.

Officials shared budget context: Comperda said the year‑to‑date operating budget through the April snapshot showed expenses and revenue producing a net deficit of about $85,000 for the period covered (April revenue not yet fully posted to the report). He reminded the committee that the project carries debt service tied to a 12‑year bond with roughly $4.6 million in annual payments; he said that if the plant consistently achieves months like February and April, the county could expect net revenue by year‑end and remain on schedule to pay the bonds.

Committee members pressed staff for maintenance schedules and lifecycle planning. One member requested the formal maintenance schedule and manufacturer life‑expectancy guidance; staff said greasing and temperature checks are performed on a monthly cadence and that they are arranging plant visits and peer exchanges with operating RNG plants in Illinois and Wisconsin to adopt best practices.

Comperda and Hartke listed recent non‑production achievements: a fire marshal inspection with positive results and a small insurance premium decrease of 1.67% on renewal. They also proposed capital and inventory spending to reduce future downtime (spare motors, rebuild arrangements and an additional chiller motor). No formal committee action was requested or taken on capital procurement during the presentation; staff said they would return with procurement requests or budget adjustments if needed.

The committee asked multiple follow‑ups about causes of failure, electrical ground faults, vibration and the economics of on‑site solar. Staff said large compressors draw “4,000 kilovolts” (as presented) and that small rooftop solar would be negligible relative to the plant’s electricity demand; staff said large‑scale solar would require land not currently available. The presentation closed with staff offering to share the maintenance schedule and to report back on lessons learned from other facilities.

The county’s RNG staff framed the update as operational: targeted spare‑parts purchases and improved monitoring are intended to reduce unplanned downtime and stabilize production and revenue.