Dane County cows to move Gundersen closer to energy goalMay 31 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Mike Tighe La Crosse Tribune, Wis.
About 2,000 cows will be doing their duty in Dane County to move the Gundersen Health System closer to its goal of energy independence by 2014. Cow manure from three farms will be used to create methane gas at a facility that Dane County and Gundersen officials broke ground for Thursday near Middleton. The methane will be used to generate electricity that Gundersen will sell to Madison Gas and Electric Co., said Jeff Rich, executive director of GL Envision, the La Crosse-based health system's energy subsidiary. The $14 million project, expected to be producing electricity by the end of the year, is being paid for with $3.3 million from Dane County, a federal grant of about $2.5 million and the balance from Gundersen, Rich said. Gundersen will own the plant and make about $1.5 million a year from selling the electricity -- enough to power 2,500 homes, he said. Additional revenue is expected from the facility's other byproducts. Gundersen's payback is expected within six years, and revenue from the facility will account for 14 percent of the health system's goal of energy independence by next year, Rich said. "You go where the clean energy opportunities are," Rich said of choosing to partner with Dane County. This is Dane County's second manure digester; the first, near Waunakee, opened in 2011. "This also is a first step to adopting digester technology for smaller farms in our area," Rich said. The project also is good for the environment, he said. The facility will remove 60 percent of the algae-producing phosphorus from the liquefied manure when it is used for fertilizer, he said. During the groundbreaking ceremony, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi said reducing the phosphorus runoff from farm fields will help protect the Lake Mendota watershed and the Yahara chain of lakes. The facility also "will generate home-grown renewable energy and keep our farm families farming for generations to come," Parisi said. The digester also will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By treating manure and replacing coal-fired electricity with renewable electricity, it will reduce emissions by 22,000 tons a year, which the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from more than 4,000 cars. The plant's methane production will be similar to Gundersen's joint biogas project with La Crosse County that taps the county landfill for methane, Rich said. That gas is used to produce electricity that Gundersen sells to Xcel Energy and heat for Gundersen's Onalaska campus. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=28804460 |