Cows to Provide Power for California

Farmers and large power companies work together to harvest a different kind of renewable product – manure. Well, actually methane.

New Hampshire-based Microgy, Inc. works in California, Texas and Wisconsin (states full of cows) to extract methane from animal waste. Microgy will now sell this renewable gas to San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), providing 8,000 Mcf of renewable gas energy to the most populated state in the country. Microgy plans to build four production facilities on large dairy farms in California. Farmers will collect manure from cows and separate the solids from the liquids. The liquids will go into a digester, which extracts the methane and then siphons it into PG&E’s extensive gas pipeline network.

Farmers around the country are looking for ways to harness their resources, er, cow poop, to power their own farms and team up with larger energy corporations. This could provide farmers extra support in a time when rising costs for land, cattle feed and electricity pose serious threats to the farming business. Higher corn prices due to corn-based ethanol production have significantly increased the costs of land and feed for cattle.

In addition to providing a form of renewable energy, the process will also capture more of the greenhouse gas methane before it contributes to global warming pollution.