Economic Feasibility Study of Colorado Anaerobic Digester Projects ...

5.0 AD Projects in Colorado and Wyoming.
5.1 Summary. The purpose of this section is to provide an update of the current and
proposed AD agricultural or co-generation projects in the region. Contacts were obtained
from the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office, the EPA AgStar website, and technology
providers. Interviews with project directors lasted from 30 minutes to four hours. Two
project directors (Colorado Correctional Industries and Wyoming Premium Farms)
encouraged site visits, and the report contains photos of these visits to provide insight into
their operation.
All project directors interviewed were supportive of the GEO study and were willing to
provide various levels of financial data. While structured interview questions were
attempted, the interviews evolved into an open-ended format, to accommodate the high
variation in the level of cost/energy production information that producers were willing to
share. Others who have been involved with previous AD feasibility studies were either
unavailable or chose not to participate in the project. Of the six projects reviewed, three
have operational AD units that employ an electrical generator. Two projects have been
involved in recent pilot technical feasibility studies. One project is currently undergoing a
technical and economic feasibility study for co-generation.
Rather than restate information found in published reports, the objective of this section is to
summarize relevant financial and technical project data and to provide relevant project
updates. One downside is that it was difficult to obtain consistent and specific financial and
operational data. The values presented merely reflect what project managers were willing
to share, and the boundaries that they set for privacy and proprietary information were
respected. For example, project managers were more willing to provide cost, rather than
revenue, information. Although this appears somewhat imbalanced, this information is
valuable and a big picture can be painted when the data are integrated into the sensitivity
analysis found in Section 6.0. A list of references that refer to previously published reports
can be found in Section 9.0.
As follows is a review of the projects (in alphabetical order):
5.2 Aurora Organic Dairy (Platteville, CO). In 2008, the Colorado Governor’s Energy
Office supported a technical and economic feasibility study for a plug flow AD project at this
site. While installation of an anaerobic digester at the dairy facility was determined to be
technically feasible, an economic analysis conducted by showed that installation would not
be economically viable. Due to the recent publication date of this technical and economic
feasibility report, the operational managers of the Aurora Organic Dairy were not
interviewed and no additional analysis was conducted.
Economic Feasibility Study of Colorado Anaerobic Digester Projects
Prepared by Dr. Catherine Keske, Colorado State University
August 2009
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