Environmental Power reaches deal with meat processor

Environmental Power Corporation, developer, owner and operator of renewable energy production facilities, and Swift & Company, the world’s second-largest beef and pork processor have entered into an agreement involving construction and operation of a renewable gas facility at Swift’s Grand Island beef processing plant in Nebraska.

According to the contract, EPG subsidiary Microgy Inc. will construct, own and operate the new facility, selling the gas it produces to Swift in accordance with a 15-year gas purchase agreement.

Engineering and permitting are under way for the project.

The new facility will consist of two 1.2 million-gallon digesters, which will transform the waste generated at the Grand Island plant into power via Microgy’s proprietary anaerobic digestion technology.

The equivalent of 1.8 million gallons of heating oil is expected to be produced annually by the new facility, reducing Swift’s dependency on fossil fuels and reducing the volume of plant processing byproducts.

“The meat industry represents an additional market for our renewable gas facilities, providing opportunities to implement our modular and scalable systems for the cost-effective production of renewable gas,” said Rich Kessel, president and CEO of Environmental Power.

He said future collaboration between Portsmouth-based EPG and Smith & Company is expected. – TRACIE STONE