Utica, NY (WIBX) - A major green project undertaken by F.X. Matt Brewery is officially off the ground. At completion, the state's largest brewery will begin converting its waste water into electricity.

"The other part of this is, is that it's going to lessen the load on the overall sewer system and that's a very positive part. And then we're going to take the generator 400kw and that's going to be off the grid, and so when the peaks are happening, in terms of electricty in the middle of the summer, we're going to be helping with that," said Nick Matt, Chairman and CEO of the family owned company. He's the third generation member of the Matt family.

Installation of the 5 large anaerobic digester tanks is in full swing. Plans also include the renovation of the concert area where Saranac Thursdays and the Saranac Summer Concert Series are held. Matt says there's also plans to build a green park. "This park that we're going to create here is really going to change the whole nature of West Utica," Matt said. He says the park will include a hop garden and other trees and shrubbery.

"We're going to have a smaller scale experimental brewery that we're going to be putting in in the next month or so, we're going to use some of those hops in that, and so that'll be the fun part of the project, but it's going to create a green space park here that is not only ecologically good, but just in terms of what the city looks like--nothing against the people who owned the property before--but this is going to be a lot nicer looking than what it was before," Matt said.

The $4 million project will be complete by summer 2013. The tanks will be operational by fall 2012. Matt says this year's Boilermaker runners will see a construction zone as they head into the finish line, but adds, "By 2013 the runners aren't going to believe how beautiful this is." Also, Matt says he's using local contractors for the project.

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