In the United States (US), renewable energy services company Green Energy Sustainable Solutions, Inc.(GESS) presented plans to Columbus County commissioners in North Carolina (NC) to build a biogas plant in Clarendon community to convert pig manure and crop silage into biogas that would be sold to Duke Energy and possibly other power companies.
At a meeting, Shaun Lee, Director of Field operations for GESS, told commissioners that his company is hoping to install a plant on about 10 acres of the 450-acre of farmland that will convert hog wastes, as well as silage from county farm row crops, into renewable natural gas that would be sold to Duke Energy and possibly other power companies.
In addition to the plant occupying 10 acres of farmland, another five acres would be utilized for storage of biomass materials. The Clarendon facility would be the first of its kind in North Carolina, although other plants are also in the planning stages in Union, Nash, and Wilson counties.
The Clarendon plant would utilize wastes from the 18 000 hogs on the farm, as well as potentially from other hog farms in the county, and it would purchase row crops such as corn silage, wheat, oats and straw from other farms in the county for use in its green energy process. It might also purchase chicken manure from poultry farmers.
While the company has 160 plants worldwide and already operates a different sort of biogas plant in North Carolina, the facility in Columbus County would be the first of its kind in the state and Lee did not rule out the possible establishment of other such plants in Columbus County in the future.
Lee said that when the plant is operational, it will employ four to six full-time employees and that an additional 15-20 trucking jobs will be created by truck contractors serving the plant.
The jobs will be permanent jobs. The people working will be long-term, 20-year or longer, employees. The US$30 million plant, when operational, will have an annual revenue stream of US$14-15 million. The benefit is not only that we’ll be providing clean energy in the form of biogas to the power company, but also that we will be working with row crop farmers to buy their products, such as corn silage, wheat, oats, and straw, Lee said.
Lee said that the plant would use about 6 000 acres of row crops from local farmers annually, including 3 500-4,000 acres of corn. The crops would be purchased at premium prices under contracts of up to 20 years in length.
The farmers will be maximizing their agricultural land, not only for one crop but for three crops that put nutrients back into the land. We’re working with N.C. State University to make sure we’re producing the proper nutrients from the plant, and then those nutrients will be put back into the soil at the proper levels, Lee said.
A feasibility study currently is underway to determine whether there is enough raw material in the county or whether materials will have to be trucked in. As of yet, there is no firm timetable for when the plant will be in production.
Duke Energy will be required by law to start buying gas produced by the plant no later than 2021. In the meantime, the company will work with county planners and state air and water quality personnel to make sure all zoning, land use and environmental regulations are satisfied.
