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Nation's first biomass powerplant opens in Benson, Minn.

The Fibrominn biomass powerplant is located on a 77-acre industrial site near similar alternative energy businesses. (Photo by Fibrominn)

It may not be a slogan for a state license plate, but Benson, Minn., in the heart of a turkey-producing region, is proud to be the home of the nation's first poultry-litter biomass powerplant.

Fibrominn LLC flipped the switch this summer on a 55-megawatt facility that will burn 700,000 tons of waste annually to be supplied by more than 30 area turkey farmers. In addition to odor control for some of the nation's largest turkey growers, the plant will provide 30 primary-wage jobs and boost Benson's tax base by 20 to 30 percent.

Xcel signed a 21-year contract to buy the electricity from the Minnesota plant, and will apply the power to its state mandate to use 125 MW of renewable energy. The plant is connected to a new 115-kilovolt power line that runs approximately a quarter of a mile to a substation owned by Great River Energy.

Benson Public Utilities, a Western customer, will not be receiving any electricity from the Fibrominn facility, but it will be selling standby power to the plant. "That's another benefit to the community," noted City Manager Rob Wolfington.

Many communities interested

With so much to be gained from the project, it is no wonder that Fibrowatt, Fibrominn's U.K.-based parent company, had more than 40 potential sites in Minnesota to choose from. "It wasn't exactly a competition," said Wolfington, "but the project generated a lot of interest from the beginning."

Benson, Litchfield and Willmar made the short list of possible sites, and city officials prepared their proposals for the company. In December 2000, Fibrowatt selected the Benson site, a 77-acre industrial-zoned area northwest of town. "In reality, Benson chose Fibrowatt, not the other way around," Fibrowatt Executive Assistant Kasia Wieronski acknowledged. "The city and its business community invited and welcomed the opportunity. It made for a well-matched relationship"

Benson didn't succeed on hospitality alone, however. "It helped that the city has 100 years' experience in the utility business," said Wolfington.

Offering a site served by 115-kv and 69-kv transmission and surrounded by similar alternative-energy and solid waste-recycling businesses didn't hurt the city's case. A helpful power wholesaler came in handy, too. On a contract with Missouri River Energy Services, Benson had recently finished expanding its standby self-generating plant. Missouri River also helped the city with backup service agreements and walked the European company through the new MISO agreements.

Long road to development

Interest notwithstanding, it took years of discussions, public meetings, planning and permitting to make the innovative, utility-scale biomass powerplant a reality.

Like most animal waste-to-energy generators, the Fibrominn plant started as an odor-control solution. Most of the manure from turkey farms in west central Minnesota winds up on crops. However, stricter environmental regulations and encroaching suburbs are pushing growers to look for alternative means of waste disposal.

Greg Langmo, a turkey farmer in Lichtfield, Minn., found the answer he was looking for in Fibrowatt, LLC. The British company had developed and built three powerplants that burned poultry-litter in the U.K. Langmo attended a Fibrowatt presentation in 1998, and suggested that the company come to Minnesota. "The United States is the largest poultry producer in the world so there was clearly a market for our technology," said Wieronski.

The idea gained strong support from the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, the Minnesota Building Trades Council, and many west central Minnesota county boards and economic development groups. That support helped push a bill through the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2000 that added poultry litter to the state's 1994 biomass mandate.

Open communication addresses concerns

The community was supportive from the beginning of the project, encouraged by Fibrowatt's openness, as well as by the promised benefits. The company, now doing business as Fibrominn in Minnesota, held an open house in Benson in October 2000 to explain the project to residents and give them the opportunity to ask questions.

The city also did its homework. A delegation of city council representatives went on a fact-finding mission to Fibrowatt's three U.K. facilities. Their independent reports answered some important questions for residents and officials. "People were concerned about the smell the plant might produce, and the delegation didn't find any," Wolfington said.

In April 2001, Benson and Fibrominn established a Citizens Advisory Panel to ensure communication throughout the project. The city selected panel members carefully to represent diverse occupations. Members include a barber, a science teacher and a local priest. "We looked for people who had a lot of interaction with the public," Wolfington said. "Our panel was in a good position to relay information to the community and get informal feedback."

Fibrominn representatives worked with panel members to answer questions about truck traffic, odors, layout and air emissions. The panel continues to meet now that the plant is up and running, but Wolfington added, "In the U.K., residents stopped showing up to meetings because the plants worked so well."

Permits, exemptions granted

The open approach helped move the project forward through the usual funding and permitting hurdles powerplants face. During the public comment period, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency received 135 letters, mostly in support of the plant. Opposition surfaced at the public meeting Fibrominn held in Benson, but, "most of it came from people from the Twin Cities, three hours away," Wolfington recalled.

The MCPA granted a permit to the project in October 2002, after more than a year of studying the environmental effects. It was the first project of its kind in the United States, so the state was cautious, said Wolfington. "The company had to provide a lot of explanation and demonstrations."

The permit included provisions for odor control and specific operating conditions to minimize the production of dioxins. The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board also waived the powerplant siting review process, finding that the project "will not create significant human or environmental impact."

First months' operation a success

And so far, in four months of operation, said Wolfington, the city has not received a single complaint about the plant, or about the 100 trucks that daily transport litter through town. It helps, of course, that the truck drivers buy goods and services from local merchants. 

But the main advantage in terms of odor control is that Fibrominn trucks haul the litter away all at once. Farmers don't have to pile it up outside their barns where it can draw flies and spread odors. At the plant, Fibrominn prevents odors from escaping by drawing air from the storage building into the boiler.  Another environmentally-friendly feature includes using gray water from Benson Municipal Water Treatment for some of the plant's cooling water requirements.

Most turkey producers with long-term contracts will get $3 to $5 per ton, about what they got selling it for fertilizer. Other growers may find a market for their agricultural waste, too. Extensive testing indicates that the boiler can use ag-based biomass such as grain, straw, processing co-products and animal bedding. The plant's permit allows it to burn those wastes, which currently represent about one quarter of its fuel.

Farmers will not be deprived of their fertilizer, either. The ash left after combustion is processed into high-value fertilizer, missing the nitrogen in turkey manure but with enhanced phosphorous and potassium. 

A renewable energy project that works out this well will spawn more like it. Fibrowatt LLC is planning similar plants in North Carolina, Arkansas, Maryland and Mississippi, all major poultry states. Another developer, Earth Resources Inc., plans to break ground soon on a chicken litter-burning plant near Carnesville, Ga.

Benson may not be the only town in the United States with a utility-scale, biomass powerplant for long, but it will always have the title of being the first. And that distinction—along with the economic benefits—is something to be proud of.