Manure is being used to provide power for thousands of electric vehicles in a first-of-its-kind project in the US.
Bar 20 Dairy, located near Fresno, California, has teamed up with BMW North America for the scheme, which sees methane from manure converted into electricity for the cars.
The dairy directs the ‘cow house’ droppings from its 7,000 cattle into a pipeline that connects to a covered lagoon.
This is fitted with an anaerobic system, described by the dairy as a “first-of-its-kind, next generation, climate-smart digester”.
The system takes the methane emitted from the manure and converts it into electricity via the use of fuel cells.
This green energy is then used on the farm and transmitted into the utility grid.
Through the partnership with BMW, the excess energy generated can be used to power the equivalent of 17,000 electric vehicles.
The use of digesters to convert waste into renewable energy is not unique to this project.
There are 40 operational in California alone, with many more in use throughout the US and globally.
Dairy expects to generate far more electricity than it uses
The main difference here is the fact that rather than being used to partially power its own operations, as is usually the case, Bar 20 expects to generate more power than it uses throughout the entire dairy.
The excess can then be used in the unique partnership with BMW – the vehicle manufacturer’s commitment to buy renewable energy credits based on the electricity generated helped make the project viable.
Bloom Energy, which makes the fuel cells used at Bar 20, estimates that the power generated from Californian dairy farms could potentially total more than 300 megawatts a year.
This would be enough to power around 600,000 electric vehicles.
The Bar 20 project was recognised by industry programme the US Dairy Sustainability Awards earlier this year.
The power generated from the manure is used in various areas of the site, including running a feed-mixing system that previously relied on diesel for power.
As well as producing electricity, the anaerobic process of the digester produces valuable by-products that can be used as fertiliser and animal bedding.
The farm also has two solar arrays that generate electricity for use in the dairy barn and offset total power usage.
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