Manure to Methane Alternative Energy Technology to Power Agricultural Community

Brothers use renewable energy technology to benefit local farm economy; manure-to-methane plant serves utility’s Green Power Program.

Farm Power, a Skagit County renewable energy company, and Puget Sound Energy, Washington’s oldest local utility, have announced the entry into service of the state’s newest source of clean, sustainable power: an anaerobic dairy digester that transforms cow manure into both a source of electricity and a source of economic vitality for the region’s agricultural community. The dairy digester is capable of producing up to 750 kilowatts of electricity – or approximately the energy needed to power 500 homes – and will provide electricity to PSE’s Green Power Program.

Farm Power’s expected annual electricity output of approximately 6,000 megawatt-hours will go exclusively to PSE’s Green Power Program, which allows the utility’s customers to choose to have some or the entire equivalent of the energy needs be sourced from certified renewable energy producers. With more than 24,000 participating PSE customers, the Green Power Program is among the largest of the nation’s 600 similar efforts, and was just recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency for its role in spurring the development of new sources of energy including biomass, such as the Farm Power digester, as well as solar and wind projects around the Pacific Northwest. The energy projects supported by the Green Power Program are separate from–and in addition to–the renewable energy projects of PSE, which is the Pacific Northwest’s first and the nation’s second-largest utility owner and operator of wind power according to the American Wind Energy Association.

Steve Reynolds, PSE president and CEO said;

“Renewable energy does more than help secure the future of our environment, it brings new opportunities to Skagit County and other communities served by PSE. Our Green Power Program customers can be proud of knowing that by choosing renewable energy they are playing a key role in making local, projects such as Farm Power possible.”