Source:  Dani Friedland, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 10/4/10

The California Municipal Finance Authority has approved $35 million in low-interest bond financing for a proposed plant that would turn chicken manure into power, The Press Democrat reported.

The plant would use chicken manure sourced from local egg farms. A 1.4-megawatt fuel cell would run off methane gas from a manure digester. The Sonoma County Water Agency would buy the resulting power, using it to make up a third of its normal usage as it works toward a goal of being completely carbon-neutral by 2015.

The Press Democrat reported the plant would produce enough electricity to power roughly 2,100 typical West Coast households.

The proposed facility would be south of Sonoma, Calif., near a Sonoma County Water Agency treatment plant. The private company that would operate the plan is OHR BioStar, a partnership between OHR Energy located in Los Angeles County and a local subsidiary of Kansas City, Mo.-based BioStar Systems.

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