Holsum Elm Dairy

 
Project Type:
Farm power
Location:
Hilbert, Wisconsin
Start Date:
January, 2007
Standard:
Chicago Climate Exchange
Verifier:
SES
 

Holsum Elm Dairy is a relatively new dairy located in the state of Wisconsin, and sister dairy to Holsum Irish, a TerraPass project since 2006. Like Holsum Irish, Holsum Elm has a variety of environmentally friendly management practices including an anaerobic digester project that stabilizes manure wastes and generates power for the farm and surrounding community.

The project benefits climate change strategies by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases produced in dairy operations, and by reducing the greenhouse gases from the public electricity grid. The farm substitutes fossil fuel based electricity with clean renewable electricity and substitutes fossil fuel based heating with waste heat from the electricity generators.

Prior to the project, the manure at this 4,100-cow facility was stored in open lagoons and seasonally applied to fields as fertilizer. In open lagoons manure decomposes anaerobically and results in large amounts of methane emissions. Methane is a harmful greenhouse gas. The sale of carbon offsets helped make a digester system financially feasible, and now manure is instead is fed into a digester where the methane is captured and used for energy production.

The project first came online in January, 2007.

TerraPass funds help ensure an adequate financial return for the project, consistent with the farm management team’s assumptions about carbon offset revenue as part of the project’s financing package.

This project meets the Chicago Climate Exchange offset protocol standards.

Project details

The Holsum Elm Dairy houses approximately 4,100 cows and is designed and permitted to house up to 6,060 animals. Before the project the farm stored manure in open lagoons and seasonally applied it to fields as fertilizer. The project generates both heat and electricity and the total capacity of the generators is 1.2 megawatts. The public utility buys all the electricity generated by the project.

The dairy, which is fairly new, was built with environmental best practices in mind. Working with the public utility the facility has many energy saving measures including efficient lights, heat exchangers, and digester motors. It also has excellent storm water management. The Holsum dairies are the first in the state to be ISO 14001 compliant (as of October 2006). The dairies are also involved in the states “Green Tier” environmental management program and are often cited as a best-practice test case under that system.

Environmental assets at Holsum Elm are managed by AgRefresh, Inc, a farmer-owned and managed environmental accountancy.

Project location

The project is located in Hilbert, Wisconsin, southwest of Green Bay.

Other social and environmental benefits and costs

Environmental benefits

  • Improvement in air quality (e.g., VOC reductions).
  • Elimination of odor in surrounding areas, improving living standards both on the farm and in the neighboring communities.
  • Digester output serves as organic, largely pathogen-free nutrients for use as fertilizer and creates an alternative animal bedding product.
  • In addition to the obvious benefits of methane destruction and odor control, this farm participates in a variety of good environmental management practices including ISO 14001 and the state Green Tier program.

Social benefits

  • Local employment for construction related to the project, installation of equipment, and operation of the project.
  • Increasing energy independence for the farming sector. This manifests itself both in longer term low energy costs (extending beyond the crediting period) as well as reduced exposure to price risks in energy markets.
  • Continued operation of a dairy farm which brings economic benefit to the local community by improving its economic positioning.

Project’s ability to foster further greenhouse gas emission reductions

  • Project developers have pointed out the economic benefits to the community that result in the farm being able to remain open including use of local farm products and services in the community.

  • The project can be expanded to help manage additional manure.

Project’s environmental and social costs

  • The project required construction of a new digester, along with associated consumption of energy intensive goods such as concrete and steel.
  • The project’s engine emits small amounts of air emissions typical for a backup gas generator.

Discussion of appropriate use of TerraPass funds

The project is an ideal candidate for TerraPass funds as carbon revenues clearly were a decisive factor in helping aproject that significantly and permanently reduces greenhouse gas emissions while achieving a modest financial return. p>

TerraPass considers many aspects of projects before deciding whether to fund them. Here is a summary of key considerations for this project.

Baseline Conditions

Before the installation of a digester, the farm stored its manure in open lagoons and applied it to fields as fertilizer seasonally.

Additionality

No regulatory requirements. There are no state, federal, or local regulations requiring the diary to manage its manure in this manner.

U.S.-based anaerobic digester based projects are widely accepted as additional by analysis of their aggregate economics and adoption profiles. This project meets the eligibility criteria of all the following performance standard protocols: EPA Climate Leaders, California Climate Action Registry, and CCX Offset Protocol. The project has been verified against the standards of the CCX Offset Protocol. At the time of project launch there were approximately 100 dairy digesters in operation in the USA, out of a total of about 92,000 dairies.1

Barriers to implementation. As one of approximately 100 digesters in the United States this project faced early market and technology barriers. Other alternatives open to the facility, such as continuing open lagoons, were not prevented by these barriers. We have not been made aware of any reasons that continuing operations would face any legal or permit barriers.

Impact of TerraPass funds. A review of the project’s finances prior to operation showed clear expected carbon offset revenues at the time of launch, and the magnitude of carbon offset revenues significantly contributes to making the project economically feasible to the farm owners.

Better than most. TerraPass seeks projects where the operations have shown good practices and avoided substantial negative impacts. Holsum Elm Dairy is a well-run dairy with good community relations, industry-leading environmental management practices and many community outreach projects. The farm owners hope this project will encourage greater digester uptake in the state.

 

Footnotes

  1. Climate Leaders Draft Offset Protocol, October 2006