SACRAMENTO, September 16, 2013 - The California Department of Food and Agriculture, the E.P.A. and their partner agencies in the California/Federal Dairy Digester Working Group have announced a joint solicitation for dairy digester concept proposals.
California is the biggest dairy state in the USA, with approximately 1.7 million cows producing in excess of 3.6 million dry tons of manure per year that must be managed to reduce or mitigate environmental impacts. Manure can be processed by anaerobic digesters to produce biogas, a flexible renewable source of energy. The ultimate goals of the collaboration are to see the widespread adoption of digester systems to better manage manure and nutrients, help address air and water quality concerns, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and produce renewable energy, fertilizer, and other value-added products.
"California farmers and ranchers are innovators by nature," said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. "Dairy digester technology is an idea whose time has come, and that is largely due to work done right here on California's dairy farms. We are at a point where focused backing can help us make the transition to wider adoption and implementation of digesters in our state."
"Dairy digesters can benefit the environment by reducing greenhouse gasses and generating renewable energy", said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA's Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "EPA is optimistic that this call for proposals will result in unique and innovative technologies that will benefit California, the nation's number-one dairy state."
In 2011, the E.P.A., U.S.D.A. and the California Department of Food and Agriculture convened the California/Federal Dairy Digester Working Group. This partnership of state, federal and local agencies, academia, industry, non-profits and utilities came together to identify and remove barriers to the development and permitting of dairy digester systems in California. The work has culminated in specific recommendations to reduce the economic, technical and regulatory hurdles currently in place, making digester systems more feasible in the nation's number-one dairy producing state (http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/EnvironmentalStewardship/pdfs/StatemntOfPrinciples-CA-FederalDairyDigesterWorkGroup.pdf ). This joint solicitation for dairy digester concept proposals is another important result of the working group (http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/dairy_digester_proposal/ ).
Proposals should include development, installation and operation of dairy manure digester and co-digester plans and may include processes for the treatment and disposal of waste streams from the digester operations to address environmental impacts. Dairy digester and co-digester development is expected to take place on individual dairies or at centralized facilities located within California.
Backing may be provided by various participating agencies of the California/Federal Diary Digester Working Group for proposals that are deemed most viable with the greatest measurable outcomes. Individual digester plans will have to qualify for Backing on a case-by-case basis and plans can potentially gain financial support from multiple participants. To assist in identifying potential Backing sources, the California/Federal Dairy Digester Working Group has put together a Backing Matrix document. The matrix identifies potential Backing sources along with general criteria for the types of plans that would qualify for the funding. A copy of solicitation and the Backing matrix can be found at http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/dairy_digester_proposal/dd_solicitation_guidance_v4.pdf
For more information on diary digesters, please go to http://www.calepa.ca.gov/digester/Dairies/default.htm and http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/EnvironmentalStewardship/Dairy_DigesterS.html
