California Department of Food and Agriculture announced the AgPower Visalia, LLC project in Tulare Co. has been awarded a three million dollar dairy digester research and development grant yesterday.
The project, developed by Camco Clean Energy, will be constructed byRegenis at the Moonlight Dairy in Visalia, the heart of California’s largest in the nation dairy industry, as part of the state’s aggressive push to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
When completed, the digester will generate approximately six million kWh of renewable electricity annually while allowing the dairy to safely reuse liquid on the farm from the 100,000 gallons of manure it produces each day, which in turn will save hundreds of millions of gallons of water.
This is the eighth dairy digester grant application submitted byRegenis to receive public funding.
Like every one of the 13 anaerobic digesters Regenis has previously built, the Moonlight digester will be a Two-Stage Mixed Plug Flow™ from DVO, Inc. of Wisconsin, which makes the only American designed anaerobic digester on the market. Together, the all-American partnership between Regenis and DVO, Inc. has generated nearly a half-million MWh of clean energy from dairy waste.
Financial assistance for the installation of dairy digesters comes from the state’s cap-and-trade program for combating climate change. Through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, CDFA and other state agencies are investing cap-and-trade auction proceeds in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while providing a variety of additional benefits to California communities.
“These projects demonstrate a commitment by California to support efforts by dairy farmers to fight climate change by reducing greenhouse gases from the agriculture sector,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “This is definitely a win-win for agriculture: cutting methane emissions and improving the environment while also generating revenue from renewable bioenergy.”
Regenis Vice President, Bryan Van Loo, said the company was looking forward to building its second digester project in Tulare County. “By committing to the entire process it takes to build a digester–writing grants as well as building, operating and maintaining them—we not only build closed loop systems, but we are a closed loop system, helping our farming partners reimagine their reusable resources for a healthier bottom line as well as a healthier environment,” Van Loo said.