The anaerobic digester is supplied with liquid cow manure from the nearby dairy lagoon. Pipes transfer the raw materials to the digester inside the building.
USDA officials visited a Vermont dairy farm this week to see one of the state’s first anaerobic digesters, funded with help from the agency. The 300-kilowatt digester will use manure from the herd to produce electricity that will power the entire North Troy dairy farm. Excess electricity will be sold to the local utility. The digester is the first to go online through Vermont’s Standard Offer Program that will pay the farm 16 cents per kilowatt hour for the next 20 years. The Natural Resource Conservation Service funded four new digesters in Vermont this year, while the USDA Farm Service Agency implemented a new conservation loan program that can be used to finance anaerobic digester projects. (GovMonitor) Read more or learn more about available USDA programs.
