The Energy Challenge: From Turkey Waste, A New Fuel And A New Fight

BENSON, Minn. — For anyone curious about what thousands of tons of turkey litter looks like, piled high into an indoor olfactory-assaulting mountain of manure, this old railroad stop on the extreme edge of alternative energy production is the place to be.

Articles in this series are examining the ways in which the world is, and is not, moving toward a more energy efficient, environmentally benign future.

Companies seek economies of scale in alternative energy.

Derek Miller, a plant employee, extracting a sample of litter from the bed of a truck for testing.

Thanks to the abundance of local droppings, Benson is home to a new $200 million power plant that burns turkey litter to produce electricity. For the last few weeks now, since before generating operations began in mid-May, turkey waste has poured in from nearby farms by the truckload, filling a fuel hall several stories high.

The power plant is a novelty on the prairie, the first in the country to burn animal litter (manure mixed with farm-animal bedding like wood chips). And it sits at the intersection of two national obsessions: an appetite for lean meat and a demand for alternative fuels.

But it has also put Benson, a town of 3,376 some three hours west of Minneapolis, on the map in another way: as a target of environmental advocates who question the earth-friendliness of the operation.

The critics say turkey litter, of all farm animals manure, is the most valuable just as it is, useful as a rich, organic fertilizer at a time when demand is growing for all things organic. There is a Web site devoted to detailing the alleged environmental wrongs at the power plant, which detractors consider just another pollutant-spewing, old-technology incinerator dressed up in green clothing.

A related issue is that the electricity is expensive, as called for in a utility contract that led to the plants construction, and that it requires a lot of input for a rather small output. Marty Coyne of Platts Emissions Daily, a newsletter that analyzes issues related to the energy markets, said it would take 10 waste-burning plants the size of the one here to equal the energy generated by one medium-size coal-fired plant.

David Morris, vice president of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, an advocacy group with offices in Minneapolis and Washington, said: As a matter of public policy, it stinks. The problem is that its using a resource in an inefficient way, and required huge subsidies to create a more inferior product than what was already being sold on the market.

All the unwanted attention shows, once again, how the landscape of renewable energy production is fraught with potential land mines, even in a case that seems small-scale and straightforward. What could be so offensive about burning turkey poop?

This is the only advancement in manure utilization since the manure spreader — thats 100-year-old technology, said Greg Langmo, a third-generation turkey farmer who lobbied for the plant, where he now works as a field manager.

Minnesota produces more turkeys than any other state, some 44.5 million birds in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available. It follows that the turkeys leave behind a lot of waste in their pens, where most are confined to gobble and peck until they are robust enough for slaughter. The Benson plant, then, has been of considerable help for farmers with a disposal problem.

The plant was built by Fibrowatt, a Philadelphia-based company, with financial incentives from the State of Minnesota. And, without precedent in the United States, it is largely a test case, watched carefully because Fibrowatt has plans to expand its operation to other big poultry states.

Officials at the company did not expect a perfectly smooth start but are surprised by the level of debate over the plant.

We are completely puzzled by why people would make such a major effort to denigrate what were doing, said Rupert J. Fraser, the chief executive, whose father pioneered manure-burning technology decades ago in Britain. Fibrowatt ran three such plants there before moving to Philadelphia to enter the American market.

Were seeking to provide an environmentally sustainable service to the industry which produces renewable energy, Mr. Fraser said. Were not claiming to be the only solution, but we think we are environmentally responsible and are doing everything to the highest possible standard.

Fibrowatt is advancing an important goal, Mr. Fraser said: the reduction of dependence on fossil fuels and their attendant pollutants.

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