07/10/06 PUC gives digester project a green light

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has approved four small power projects, one of them being a dairy digester. The agreement between Idaho Power Company and Hyperion LLC calls for electrical power production from the anaerobic digester to be built on a dairy south of Lake Lowell in Canyon County. Hyperion president Sot Chimonas of Eagle says when the digester is up and running by March of next year electricity isn't the only thing that will be produced. CHIMONAS "We have so much heat available that allows us to compost year round and end up with a lot higher quality compost." The agreement is a first for Idaho Power. The anaerobic digester is expected to produce 3.2 megawatts of electricity, enough energy to power nearly 21 hundred average homes. In the meantime, Idaho's only operational digester at the Whitesides Dairy near Rupert could reach a milestone this week. Instead of producing electricity that digester converts the dairy manure into gas which Intrepid Technologies of Idaho Falls will sell to Intermountain Gas Company. Tests results are expected this week on the quality of the gas which has to meet Intermountain specifications before it can be pumped into their system. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott