Southern N.M. plant to convert dairy-farm waste into biogas

[Fledermaus]

Aug 02, 2009 (Albuquerque Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Fifty-thousand dairy cows in southern New Mexico figure into PNM's plans to meet the state's renewable energy requirements.

The utility plans to add biogas to its portfolio by purchasing methane gas derived from manure and send it by pipeline to natural gas-fired power plants, starting with the Luna generating plant near Deming.

"I find it really exciting," said Cynthia Bothwell, manager of PNM's Integrated Resource Planning Department. site.

"That's basically what the natural gas is we use in our plants -- methane gas that is trapped underground. This one is above ground," Bothwell said. "It actually resolves some environmental problems the livestock industry has been having as well." R-Qubed president Eddie Rodriguez, an attorney and former chief operating officer with the El Paso Electric Co., said the firm is getting funding squared away, which will be a combination of private investment and financing. The first of the plant's four "quadrants" should be under construction by early next year and operational within 12 months. When fully built, it will employ 50 to 60 people....

Any of PNM's natural gas plants could use the methane, Bothwell said, but Luna is the closest to the R-Qubed site and the one that's operated the most. None of the plants would require modification. "Instead of buying renewable energy, we're buying a renewable fuel and using that in our existing power plants to generate electricity." PNM estimates the biogas production would generate the equivalent of 7,000 megawatt-hour renewable energy credits in 2010, growing to 62,000 megawatt-hours in 2012. That could power 1,060 and 9,400 households, respectively.


http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/08/02/4303820.htm

[Horse with no Name]

1. I know the smell between El Paso and Las Cruces

is pretty stout from all of the dairies that start in around Anthony.:(
Would be nice to put it to some good use!

[Fridays Child]

2. It's a good thing but...

...so many problems--moral, environmental, health, etc.--result from CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations). The only sustainable solution is probably to shut them down completely.

[NYC_SKP]

3. Think again, grasshopper.

I visited just such a facility two weeks ago near Fresno, CA, called Vintage Diary.

While it's fair to point out that the meat-eating industries are less sustainable than vegetarian based operations, there are a number of great features about this technology.

The waste products in the dairy portion and in the cow sheds (where they are fed and where they hang out) are all collected, poo and pee, and sent into the 38 foot deep digester pit (covered with thick membrane) and all the gasses are collected, the methane is scrubbed and sent into the pipline infrastructure.

Absent this technology, all the methane would enter the atmosphere (and it's 21 times more harmful than CO2 as a GHG).

We are displacing the need for natural gas AND preventing the methane from entering the atmosphere.

The Carbon part is a part of the natural carbon cycle, so has no net effect on the atmosphere.

It's so much better than the old school dairies.

But it's also true that it would be better if we had no dairies at all (except I love non-fat milk).

:patriot:

[Fridays Child]

4. As a dedicated omnivore, I support meat-eating. And that sounds like an great operation in Fresno.

But what to do with the waste products is not the only issue affecting CAFOs and, by extension, all of us. The uncounted costs of agribiz are manifold. If you're not familiar with how people like Joel Salatin are addressing the big picture, go here: http://www.polyfacefarms.com/

[NYC_SKP]

5. I'm encouraged by the interest shown by smaller independent dairies in a co-op effort.

And thanks for the link, I will check it out.

:toast:

[Iterate]

6. It's astonishing that such a good and simple plan can't be made mandatory,

except in the EU of course. Not yet, but very soon.

In ballpark numbers, 7,500 cows = 1 one megawatt of electricity.
The US cattle "inventory" = about 95,000,000
The US hog "inventory" = about 60,000,000