US: Contract signed for poultry waste-to-biogas plant

Progress Energy Carolinas has signed a contract with Poultry Power USA to purchase the output of a poultry waste-to-biogas energy plant to be located in Montgomery County, making it the first in the US state of North Carolina.

Poultry Power USA will build, own and operate the 36-megawatt (MW) power plant and sell the electricity to the utility for use with its customers.

“Turning poultry litter into power is an important milestone in the development of bio-waste energy resources in our state,” said Lloyd Yates, president and chief executive officer of Progress Energy Carolinas. “Innovative renewable energy technologies, aggressive energy efficiency programs and a state-of-the-art power system are important parts of a balanced approach to meeting our region’s future energy demands.”

Progress Energy Carolinas is aggressively pursuing renewable energy projects to meet the targets of North Carolina’s renewable energy portfolio standard (REPS), established in 2007. The REPS includes a statutory requirement that a portion of statewide electricity comes from poultry waste. The state’s utilities must together provide a total of 900,000 megawatt-hours per year from poultry waste, beginning in 2014. This project will help Progress Energy Carolinas meet its share of this requirement.

The plant will be built in Biscoe and is scheduled to begin operation in early 2013. Poultry Power USA estimates the project will be an investment of $125 million and bring about 100 direct and indirect jobs to the area. The plant will use 350,000 tons of poultry litter per year.

Source: Progress Energy