Utilities securing energy from poultry waste in North Carolina
Duke Energy said Tuesday that it, along with a group of other utilities, is now securing renewable energy certificates (RECs) from a facility in Farmville, N.C., facility that recently started generating power from poultry waste.
The $32 million Pitt County facility generates 2 megawatts (MW) of power and 75,000 tons of steam per hour from more than 230 tons of turkey waste a day. It collects poultry litter from nearby farms and dries it to create a boiler fuel, which is then used to generate steam and electricity.
“Duke Energy supports the innovative way biomass can complement the other resources in our energy mix,” Stephen De May, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president, said. “Using poultry waste to generate electricity diversifies our energy portfolio and supports the important agriculture industry in North Carolina.”
Duke Energy noted that the RECs would help it satisfy state poultry waste-to-energy mandates under the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard law in North Carolina. Utilities purchase RECs generated by the facility when it produces 1 MWh of electricity.
Carolina Poultry Power is owned and operated by the Power Resource Group. The facility is connected to the energy grid by Pitt and Greene Electric Membership Corporation, and the financing for the facility was provided by First National Bank of Pittsburgh and private investors.
“This is a great example of North Carolina’s portfolio standard directly causing the deployment of $32 million into the state to create jobs while helping divert pollution from our waterways,” Rich Deming, CEO of the Power Resource Group, said. “This project would have died during the long finance process if it were not for the support of Duke Energy and the utility counterparties when we needed contract extensions and other help.”
In 2018, poultry waste supplied 300,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of the total electric power sold to retail electric customers in North Carolina.
