PG&E and BioEnergy Solutions Use Manure for Renewable Energy

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=47442

Under a recent agreement, BioEnergy Solutions will deliver up to three billion cubic feet of renewable natural gas a year to Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to meet the electricity needs of approximately 50,000 PG&E residential customers in central and northern California..

"This agreement turns what would otherwise be a growing problem for farmers into a new revenue source for them, and helps PG&E continue its mission to deliver clean energy to its customers."-- David Albers, president of BioEnergy Solutions and the owner of Vintage Dairy

BioEnergy Solutions' first project will be to use manure from 3,000 dairy cows at the Vintage Dairy of Fresno County, California. The manure will be flushed into covered lagoons that will trap the methane gas produced as the manure decomposes. The methane will be "scrubbed" to remove carbon dioxide and corrosive materials to meet PG&E's industry environmental standards for power plants, then delivered to PG&E through the utility's pipeline.

<not much more>

[Auggie]

1. Let's hear it for those moooovers and shakers in California

[kestrel91316]

3. The dairy industry really needs to do this on a massive scale.

California is a HUGE dairy state and we have mostly gigantic dairies where this is feasible and SHOULD BE MANDATORY.

Also, the by-product of the anaerobic fermentation of manure is extremely high-quality fertilizer along the lines of swamp muck.

[Auggie]

6. Well, if there's enough money in shit someone will.

[bleedingheart]

2. imagine the energy that Congress could generate based on this

add the current Administration and you will have a boat load of manure to produce energy.

[JohnWxy]

4. Not only producing energy cost effectively but ALSO eliminating waste which would cost farmers to

deal with. This reduces GHG emissions from the waste treatment facilities (which produce methane gas of varying amounts depending on the approach.).

HOpefully, this will catch on rapidly all over the country. There is a lot of cattle and pig manure being treated as waste, at considerable cost, which could be used to produce energy.

Recommended.

[GliderGuider]

5. Now this I like.

Every community with more than 10 cows should have a local facility like this. Given that Peak Gas is likely to be as damaging as Peak Oil we should be recovering methane from every biological source we possibly can.

[Porcupine]

7. Hell, that's old hat up in the Sacremento Valley....

You folks have to get up pretty early to beat Butte County on energy efficiecy. This operation is a cogeneration plant and uses exhaust heat to heat dairy cleaning water.

http://orion.csuchico.edu/Pages/vol42issue15/jour60/farm.html

May 12, 1999 Life's a gas on the farm
But this dairy has one more thing to offer--energy. The 400-cow operation not only produces milk but also enough energy to run the dairy, the Langerwerf's home, and sell about 12,000 kilowatts a month to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The Langerwerfs are able to generate this energy by using an anaerobic methane digester, installed in 1992 and overhauled in fall 1998.
.............
The gas is then used to run an engine that supplies enough energy to run the Langerwerf's home, the digester and the day to day operations of the dairy. The hot water needed to clean the milking machines is heated by the excess heat from the methane digester's generator. The left over solution first goes through a sulfur filter and then the liquid is separated from the solids. The liquid contains high amounts of nitrogen, and the Langerwerfs spray it on their crops as a natural fertilizer. Langerwerf said this has reduced the amount of inorganic fertilizers they use. The solid has low amounts of nitrogen and is used as bedding for the cows and soil conditioner on their fields. The excess solid is sold to local gardeners as compost.

Of course PG&E's not always helpful....
http://www.wurdco.com/News%20Clips/pgeversuscowpower.htm

San Francisco Chronicle June 28, 2004
Dairy farmers say the utility opposes energy from methane gas

PG&E impedes methane technology by imposing complex and expensive
requirements on farmers who want to hook up methane systems to the
utility's grid, Moser said. These include lengthy studies, special
meters and prepaid maintenance fees. "They make it complicated and
costly," he said. "And when it gets too complicated and too costly, it
stops you."

The state's other utilities, Moser said, "typically take about six
months to approve a digester. On one (PG&E) project I'm working on,
we're at a year (waiting for approval) and still counting. And PG&E will
charge that farmer at least $20,000 more than another state utility
would charge."

[IDemo]

8. Southern Idaho could be the Saudi Arabia of sh*t

And that's not even counting what the Repub led Statehouse produces during a typical session!

Wild-Catting in the Cow Patties

MAY 3, 2006 - Intrepid Technology and Resources, a home-grown, publicly traded company from Idaho Falls, would like to capitalize on the recent interest in renewable energy by using what they see as a vast, untapped natural resource: cow manure.

Intrepid has plans to transform millions of tons of the stuff through bio-digester conversion into pipeline-quality methane gas to heat Idaho homes beginning next summer. A new 15-year contract with Intermountain Gas Company to accomplish this feat, beginning in 2007, marks the first time a biogas company will sell its product commercially.

If cow patties are the new black gold, southern Idaho may be the equivalent of a Texas oil field.

ITR is designing and constructing Idaho's second biogas production facility on a large commercial dairy. The facility will initially produce 140 million cubic ft of methane per year. The methane gas will be sold into the heating fuel market in Southern Idaho.