Pine Island Farm Digester Facility Sheffield, MA 01257

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Leslie Gibson
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Sheffield, Massachussetts and a partnership between father and son, Louis Aragi Sr. & Louis Aragi Jr.

1 Biogas Project Profile Pine Island Farm Digester Facility Sheffield, MA Owner: Louis Aragi Developer: DVO, INC Contact: Holly Aragi, , Date Construction Started: 12/15/2010 Date Tank Started Being Filled: 10/10/2011 Date Project was Fully Operational: 11/16/2011 Project Summary: Pine Island Farm is a large dairy farm in Sheffield, Massachussetts and a partnership between father and son, Louis Aragi Sr. & Louis Aragi Jr. To address problems of large scale farming, such as manure management, groundwater protection and odor control, Pine Island Dairy Farm installed an on-farm DVO anaerobic digester. The AD system generates electric power and heat. The electric power is being used at the farm and net metered to other commercial consumers. Waste heat is reclaimed from the gen-set and utilized to heat the digester and other areas of the dairy operation. Pine Island Farm is the owner of the digester system and is in control of its revenues and expenses. There are no outside investors or owners involved in the operation. Day to day maintenance is handled by the farm. The farm currently operates a 225kW Guascor. On average the generator produces 177.5kW/hr from the waste of 710 cows. Since the digester is flaring excess gas, the farm is currently in the process of adding a second 225kW Guascor gen-set to double their electricity production. The objectives for developing the facility, and the ways in which Pine Island Farm defines success, are to continue to increase cash flow and harvest, rather than waste, resources. By adding a second genset to an existing AD system, the well-tested technology minimizes risks and ensures desired outcomes. There are distinct economic, market, technical, financial, and management benefits attributable to our project. This has been a cost effective practice, one that not only saves money, but the environment and resources, too.

2 What makes this project special? Running a successful dairy farm in Massachusetts is challenging. Through thoughtful, creative planning and solid business decisions, Pine Island Farm has developed a dairy operation that relies heavily on the farm's natural resources (land mass and field crops). Pine Island Farm illustrates the importance of maximizing co-product use and the valuable digester offtakes. The methane digester has been a huge undertaking for Pine Island Farm. It has required an immense amount of time, planning and money. Construction was long but was highly effective. Pine Island Farm has been solely responsible for expenses incurred throughout volatile milk prices before, during, and after construction, and performs all the operation and maintenance procedures directly associated to the digester system to make sure it is functioning properly. Pine Island Farm continues to take advantage of dairy industry learning opportunities to keep updated of changes in the dairy field, and pursue the opportunities that have significant potential to benefit the farm. Organizations involved: Pine Island Farm is the owner of the anaerobic digester system and is in control of revenues and expenses of the system. Team Members Include: Louis Aragi Jr. Owner/Operator/Management Louis Aragi Sr Owner Michael Agar Mechanical/Electrical Walter Agar Mechanical Developed by DVO, Inc.* *ABC Member Inputs and Outputs Source of biogas: Feedstocks: The farm is set up to recieve liquid organics. When sourceseparated organics in desired quanities are unavailable, additional cow manure is used. A range of feedstocks is currently used: 1. Yogurt whey 2. Spoiled milk 3. Fatty acids/oils 4. Unlimited manure For frame of reference, cow manure in liquid form has methane potential of 20 cubic meters of methane gas per ton of feedstock (m3 ch4/ton feed) and solid cow manure a potential of 40 (m3 ch4/ton feed). The volume of waste accepted from food processors listed above depends on local availability and cost, the determining factors for which feedstocks are contracted and fed. Approximate annual feedstock: 9108 tons of cow manure

3 98,200 yogurt whey (gallons) 29,320 food waste material (gallons) Products created: Renewable electricity. Surplus waste heat in the form of water is generated and utilized by the dairy, replacing the traditional hot water needs at the dairy and residential housing. The surplus heat is a direct replacement for purchasing heating oil or propane fuels. Separated solids are utilized by the dairy for bedding (expense reduction). Liquid effluent can be spread in the summer when plants can utilize the nutrient uptake fastest and with the lowest risk of leaching or run-off. Since the effluent is 95-98% water, applying liquid to growing crops in drier months can provide needed moisture when the plant requires it for optimal plant yields. There has been an increase in hay yields on cropland where the liquid digestate has been spread. Digestate management: The volume of dried residual solids produced by the AD system has effectively eliminated the need to buy off-farm materials for bedding. The farm is able to generate more than a sufficient amount of solid digestate for farm use, which allows the excess to be sold. The liquid digestate has a significant impact on the farm's bottom line. Using the liquid digestate as a crop fertilizer has resulted in increased crop yields. It has also decreased the need to invest in herbicides to control/eliminate the potential for weed seeds which would otherwise be present in unprocessed manure/bedding/feed waste. The transition from conventional manure handling to an anaerobic digester system has yielded multiple benefits, a valuable one being the significant reduction in odor. The dairy now has the ability to apply the odorless liquid fertilizer to fields that had never before been spread with raw manure because has diminished potential conflicts with residents living adjacent to some of the fields, regarding smell like that of conventional farm manure. The use of the liquid fertilizer has aided with the farm's comprehensive nutrient management plan. The liquid is hauled in appropriate hauling/spraying retrofit trucks with a 4,800 gallon houle liquid fertilizer tank and sprayer system. These trucks are outfitted with oversized tires to accomodate the tanks and to allow for ease of use on the farm's owned and rented cropland.

4 Biogas generation: Methane content of the gas in 2016, the value of 56.5% was used. The heat combustion for the methane has been assumed to be 1030 btu/scf. Thus,calculation of the biogas consumed during the month to produce 160 mw electricity is: (1,706,000,000 btu/1030 btu/scf)/ scf methane/scf biogas = 2,931,523 scf biogas consumed during the month. As a check: 2,931,523 scf/month / minutes/month = 68 scfm biogas flow rate, which is about the typical flow rate observed. The estimated annual electricity production (kwh) is 1,520,650kwh. Estimated annual useable heat production (btu) is 1,490,428,800 btus using a feed source of methane.the digester feedings remain the same throughout the seasons, weather does not play a factor. kwh generated to date since startup: 9,402,939.5 kwh Environmental benefits since installation; Carbon: 13,164,115.3lbs Trees saved: 131,359,06 trees Finances, Beneficiaries, and Expansion Project financing: Customer(s): Environmental and economic beneficiary: With a combination of farm funds and off-farm funds the farm invested significant resources in the installation of the methane digester. A bank lender was committed to the project, based on third party grant funds. The grants thus induce the lender to loan the remaining portion of the project costs. All the funds were needed in order for the project to move forward. Mcec, doer and usda rural development were committed to share costs for performance of all work and in respect of all other direct and indirect costs, charges or expenses incurred in the connection with the project and paid pine island farm for cost elements identified in the project budget. Electricity is used for the farm's needs and fed into the utility grid through net metering and sold to external markets Non-utilized separated solids are sold (system-generated income) to after-markets, such as nurseries & com posters, as soil amendment material. Rec's are available for electricity, thus increasing the value of electrical production by the ad system. The rec's are sold on the open market. Aec's are also available and used as a form of electrical by-product for revenue.

5 Long term/expansion plans? New construction is almost completed to generate additional cash flow by adding an additional mgg kw gen-set to produce more electricity and heat while reducing flaring of excess gas.this generator is identical to the existing generator. The combined 560 kw three phase generating system will consist of two reciprocal engines. The farm sets its sights to try to continue developing a dairy operation that is successful and will support future generations of the aragi family. To continue looking at opportunities for the farm from all angles and think outside the box in order to take maximum advantage of their available resources and implement those things that will benefit the farm-labor efficiencies, cost savings, increased profitability. The ad system has allowed the farm to reduce operating costs and will over the long-term continue to diversify the product mix while assisting with the sustainability of the farm. To continue to "miine the farm's waste". And to continue to provide and economic boost to the dairy farm helping to smooth out the volatility associated with milk pricing. Photos

Brent Gloy, April

Brent Gloy, April Digester Economics and Financing Cornell Manure Nutrient Management and Renewable Energy Workshop Brent Gloy Cornell University April 1-2, 2008 Agenda Economic keys and evaluation Incentives Evaluation