Environmental Power to Produce Biogas from Beef

Environmental Power Corporation (AMEX: EPG), a renewable bioenergy company broke ground on a biogas plant this week that will use waste from the JBS Swift beef processing facility in Grand Island, Nebraska.

 

The plant will generate biogas to offset a portion of the facility’s natural gas consumption and will improve its waste management practices. JBS Swift is the largest beef processing company in the world.

Environmental Power’s subsidiary Microgy, Inc. will construct, own and operate the renewable energy production facility and sell its gas to JBS Swift pursuant to a 15-year purchase agreement.

 

The facility will use anaerobic digester technology to convert animal waste and other byproducts of the JBS Swift plant into a methane-rich biogas to be used as fuel in the plant’s existing boilers. At capacity, the facility is expected to generate 235,000 MMBtu per year — the energy equivalent of 1.7 million gallons of oil — and will offset approximately 25% of JBS Swift’s annual purchase of natural gas. In addition to reducing the plant’s dependence on fossil fuels, JBS Swift will be able to reduce the land application of organic waste materials from its operations.

"The meat processing industry represents an important market for our co- digestion systems to produce renewable biogas," said Rich Kessel, President and CEO of Environmental Power. "The facility at Grand Island is our first inside-the-fence industrial project and demonstrates JBS Swift’s willingness to embrace emerging renewable energy technologies. We look forward to continuing our partnership with JBS Swift, including exploring the company’s network of processing plants to identify and develop additional facilities."

The JBS beef processing plant in Grand Island currently processes approximately 6,000 beef cattle per day and employs 2700 people. The plant is one of three similar facilities owned by JBS Swift in North America. The new biogas system will employ 3 skilled operators along with a facility manager. The gas production facility will consist of two 1.2 million-gallon digesters, as well as a purification system that cleans the gas prior to its use. The Benham Companies, LLC of St. Louis, Missouri will provide design and construction services for the project.

The biogas plant is expected to be operational in the 4th quarter of 2008.

About Environmental Power Corporation

 

Environmental Power Corporation is a developer, owner and operator of renewable energy production facilities. Its principal operating subsidiary, Microgy, Inc., holds an exclusive license in North America for the development and deployment of a proprietary anaerobic digestion technology for the extraction of methane gas from animal wastes and other organic waste for its use to generate energy.