The Economics of Dairy Digesters - Part Two
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
The economics have changed when looking at building digesters on dairies to convert manure into energy. The value of the credits this process generates have really declined. But dairy analyst Ben Laine says all is not lost. While he doesn’t see the market returning to the highs of the boom of a few years ago, he does see reason for long term optimism.
Laine… “ We've been able to hit those targets; the targets that are set by California Air Resources Board, those kind of ratchet down and get tighter and tighter each year. But between dairies and other sources of renewable fuel, we've actually been surpassing those targets. So there's plenty of renewable fuel out there basically at this point, that's what's lowered the value of the credits. But I do think long term, you're looking at potentially other states that are looking at similar programs to what California has done. I think there's still gonna be pushed toward general movements towards sustainability and renewable fuels and that sort of thing down the road. So I think there's still gonna be value there for dairies in particular. You're able to get such high credit values because of the. Significant net negative carbon impact when you put one of these digesters in. So that's a pretty favorable position to be in compared to other fuels.”
Laine says the current challenge is the uncertainty associated with these markets.
