Plugged In
Energy writer Thomas Content keeps you current as you adapt to changes in the world of energy, climate change and efforts to build a greener economy.
The Forest County Potawatomi tribe is proposing to build an $18.5 million biogas energy project adjacent to its Menomonee Valley casino.
The renewable energy plan calls for construction of an anaerobic digester that would produce both electricity as well as heat that would provide hot water and heating for the casino.
The digester would produce gas from wastes produced by the food processing industry, the Potawatomi said in a proposal filed with the City of Milwaukee.
The tribe estimates the project would create 61 construction jobs and five full-time jobs. If all approvals are obtained, construction would begin in late spring and be completed by early spring in 2013.
The facility would be one block west of the casino on the site of what is now a parking lot for casino employees.
"We really believe a bio-digester in a community like Milwaukee is a win-win for the businesses that want to produce green energy and the businesses that are producing this organic waste product," said Jeff Crawford, the tribe's attorney general. "Right now they're paying for this waste to be hauled away and it's having to be processed through separate facilities or MMSD. What we're talking about is taking it out of that waste stream and making it more productive by turning it into green energy."
The tribe was awarded a $2.5 million grant for renewable energy projects from the U.S. Department of Energy. The grant would fund about $1 million of this project's cost. It would be used for a recently completed solar installation at the tribe's administration building in Milwaukee as well as bio-energy projects in the works by the tribe in northern Wisconsin.
Under the proposal, the biogas project would generate 2 megawatts of electricity, which would be sold to We Energies. That's enough power to supply about 1,500 typical homes.
"This project makes perfect sense," said Gary Radloff, director of the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative. "Businesses generating food waste are perfect candidates for anaerobic digester-to-energy technology."
The initiative published a report this year that called for Wisconsin's food processing industry to consider more energy projects as a creative and sustainable way to deal with wastes that are now sent to wastewater treatment plants. Wisconsin leads the nation in farm digesters that produce energy from cow manure, but it has also seen projects built by cheesemakers and food processors.
The tribe is in discussions with local food processors but has not finalized agreements to supply the facility, a tribal spokesman said.
The biogas cogeneration facility would house two large tanks that would store the food industry waste and decompose it.
To address potential noise concerns, the tribe said it would install silencers on the equipment. "All feedstock handling will take place in an enclosed, negative-air-pressure environment to assure that noxious odors are not released," the application says.
"The Potawatomi have thoughtfully and thoroughly answered the questions we raised about noise and smells, and we are satisfied with the answers," said Jeff Fleming, a city spokesman. The city's planning staff is recommending that the Plan Commission vote to support the tribe's proposal.
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