The largest on-farm, ‘co-digestion’ biogas power project in the New York state has been opened recently and the project provides a significant enhancement for the state’s efforts on sustainability and renewable energy generation.
Synergy Biogas LLC codigestion biogas power plant at Synergy Dairy, Covington, N.Y (Photo: Business Wire)
The project is situated at Synergy Dairy, which is a 2,000-head dairy farm located at Covington in Wyoming County.
CH4 Biogas, a renewable energy company, has constructed and also owns and operates the project under Synergy Biogas. The 120,000 gal co-digestor processes both food and animal waste to produce biogas, which is used to fuel a ecomagination-qualified, Jenbacher J420 biogas engine from GE. This biogas engine produces 1.4 MW of renewable power.
Both the cow manure from dairy and local food wastes are processed by anaerobic digestion in the unit. Hence, this unit with 425 t per day capacity is cost efficient. Further, the unit produced approximately 6 jobs, whilst, improving the farm’s functions and sustainable practices of haulers and food producers.
Furthermore, the unit has secured $1 million incentive from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
The project may cut down 8500 t of carbon dioxide emissions per year that is equal to carbon dioxide emitted by 1,700 automobiles. In addition, about 17,500 cubic yards of bedding material for livestock will be produced by the unit. This reduces the manure odors and helps in managing the nutrients for agricultural land.