Fiscalini Cheese to turn manure into methane for electricity plants

By JOHN HOLLAND
jholland@modbee.com

last updated: December 22, 2007 04:48:01 AM

The cows at Fiscalini Cheese Co. just munch at their feed, little knowing that they are pioneers in renewable energy.

Rising near the stalls at the Kiernan Avenue business is the first of two large tanks that will turn the animals' manure into methane gas that in turn will be burned for electricity.

Fiscalini, well-known for its farmstead cheese, will have the first manure-to-energy operation in the Modesto Irrigation District, which is negotiating to buy the power.

The manure digester, as it is called, is part of an overall project that includes a tenfold increase in cheese-making

capacity and a visitor center.

The latter two have been delayed and likely will not be completed until early 2009, owner John Fiscalini said this week.

The digester, on the other hand, is well on its way and could be feeding power to the MID grid by June.

"They are extremely interested in purchasing it, and we are extremely interested in selling it," Fiscalini said.

Prices and other terms still have to be set, said Roger VanHoy, assistant general manager for electric resources at the MID.

Fiscalini in January got a grant of about $720,000 from the California Energy Commission for the digester. The systems use bacteria to break down the manure, producing methane, which is similar to the natural gas that heats homes and supplies many electricity plants.

Digesters help dairy farmers meet increasingly strict rules aimed at keeping manure out of waterways.

They also could help fight climate change. Methane wafting from manure is believed to be even more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. Burning methane to make power renders it relatively harmless.

The MID is under a state mandate to get 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources, other than hydroelectric plants, by 2017. It is at 11 percent, all from wind; the Fiscalini system would bring it to 11.2 percent.

"One of the goals is to get some diversity in the green power," VanHoy said.

The MID board plans to hold a workshop early in 2008 on its options for renewable sources, including solar, wind, animal waste and crop residue.

Fiscalini's overall project, including the cheese-making expansion and visitor center, won approval from the Stanislaus County Planning Commission in April.

Fiscalini said it took a while to get a permit for the digester from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District because it was the first such project under new air-quality rules.

He submitted detailed plans for the cheese-making and visitor building to the county this week and said he hopes to start building in the spring.

The new plant will have the capacity to use all of the milk from the site's 3,000 or so cows, compared with 10 percent now, but Fiscalini said production might not go that high.

The visitor center will have a cheese store, a demonstration kitchen and displays about cheese-making. Tours will be available.

The entire project will cost $3 million to $3.5 million, Fiscalini said.

Bee staff writer John Holland can be reached at jholland@modbee.com or 578-2385.

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