The company provides the farm with a percentage of the energy sales, and returns valuable by-products such as nutrient-rich fertiliser. Environmental Power is financing projects with roughly 80%-20% debt-to-equity, using tax-exempt municipal bonds for the debt component when available. The company also operates three anaerobic digesters on family-owned Wisconsin dairies that produce enough electricity for 1,800 homes. In California, three projects the size of Huckabay Ridge are under development, and at Grand Island in Nebraska, animal by-product waste gas from a slaughterhouse will offset approximately 25% of the plant's natural-gas demand.
Waste not, want not
Animal manure-to-energy projects are poised for sustained growth as several US states seek to utilise by-products from their sprawling farm operations, and create significant quantities of marketable carbon-offset credits.
19 February 2009 23:00 GMT
Updated
25 November 2012 8:49 GMT
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