Pennsylvania will distribute $5 million in federal stimulus funds to large-scale projects that generate electricity from biological materials like yard, farm-processing, and animal waste through its GreenWorks! program.
The new program isn’t the state’s first try at alternative energy sources. Geothermal, solar, wind and biomass projects–using switchgrass, wood chips, and animal waste– have been funded since 2004 through the state’s Energy Harvest program.
A number of farms in the state already use methane digesters (AKA anaerobic digesters) to produce electricity from animal manure. One is Dovan Farms in Berlin, Somerset County, where the Van Gilder family raises 650 dairy cows. They rely on the animal waste, along with food waste from a nearby manufacturer, to generate 150 kw.
“We use 100 percent of the energy produced,” says Jason Van Glider, 28. “It all starts in the barn.” An automatic alley scraper moves manure from stalls to a 50,000-gallon tank that’s pumped to the digester. Though the farm no longer pays electric bills of $1,5000 to $2,000 a month, Van Gilder says maintenance of the digester, plus a small amount of power purchased from the standard grid, means that the system “basically breaks even.”
For the latest round of grants, says spokesman John Repetz, the state Department of Environmental Protection took a portion of its federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and used it to supplement the Energy Harvest program. DEP used the ARRA money to fund additional projects that were not chosen in the previous round of Energy Harvest. Dovan Farms was one of those projects.
The Somerset County Conservation District recently received $199,000 on behalf of Dovan Farms to boost its capacity to generate an additional 300,000 kwh per year of electricity (enough to power 30 homes) and displace air and water pollution from conventional generation. The Berlin project is among about 20 biogas projects statewide, said Repetz, and is one of a dozen projects to receive funds in the latest round of projects.
The new GreenWorks! grant program received $99 million in federal stimulus funds for projects that create jobs, start operating in six months, and be completed within two years.
Source: John Repetz, DEP; Jason Van Gilder, Dovan Farms
Writer: Chris O’Toole