Bloom Energy announced on November 8 the deployment of 1 megawatt (MW) fuel cells at Bar 20 Dairy Farms in Kerman, California, to efficiently produce renewable electricity on-site using cow manure. This installation marks Bloom's first dairy farm biogas project.

In order to convert cow dung into renewable electricity, Bar 20 Dairy Farms combines biogas digesters, gas cleaning skids and Bloom Energy fuel cells to form an end-to-end waste-to-energy solution. The California Bioenergy (CalBio) biogas digester captures biogas mainly composed of methane, which is released from the anaerobic decomposition of dairy manure. After being cleaned in the separation skid, the biogas is converted into renewable electricity through an electrochemical process without burning through Bloom Energy's fuel flexible solid oxide fuel cell.

Dairy biogas contains up to 65% methane. Waste-to-energy solutions can capture methane, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, while reducing carbon emissions from power generation and vehicle fuels.

Bloom’s energy servers generate enough electricity to run gas cleaning skids and meet the energy needs of the dairy farm. The excess electricity is deployed to electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in California. Dairy farms, such as Bar 20 Dairy Farms, provide renewable electricity to charge California's electric vehicles, and can participate in the California Air Resources Board's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program to provide farmers with new income opportunities.

Sharelynn Moore, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Bloom Energy, said: "Limited resources do not mean limited energy. It means using the resources we have to do smarter things." "Bar 20 Dairy Farms has long understood that they Actions taken today will bring benefits to their industries and communities in the coming years. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a short lifespan in our atmosphere. This means that capturing and using waste methane as a renewable fuel is An effective way to positively and quickly affect climate change. Bloom Energy is proud to play a role in their journey and prove that fuel cells are an important part of low-carbon solutions."

"At Bar 20, we see ourselves as environmental managers and play an important role in California's sustainable development," said Steve Shehadey, partner at Bar 20 Dairy Farms. "Through this deployment, we can make further efforts to use cost-effective and clean solutions that benefit our farms and communities, support cleaner local air and reduce overall farm greenhouse gas emissions. We are proving a realistic climate solution The plan is available and can be deployed today."

In California, there are hundreds of megawatts of economically viable dairy biogas. With the large-scale deployment of dairy biogas digesters throughout the California dairy industry, on-site power generation solutions are needed to use the captured biogas to generate renewable electricity without burning. Bar 20 Dairy Farms' leadership in prioritizing climate-conscious energy solutions can serve as a catalyst for more California dairy plants to adopt technologies that support the local environment and global climate initiatives.

California’s Central Valley, especially the San Joaquin Valley where many dairy plants are located, has the worst air quality in the United States and the highest incidence of childhood asthma in California. Using fuel cells to generate electricity from dairy biogas instead of internal combustion engines can eliminate smoke-forming emissions and improve local air quality and public health.

Bloom Energy Server eliminates most of the air pollution that is harmful to local communities, and its carbon emissions are much lower than traditional technologies. The energy server is designed to generate 24 x 7 x 365 power, and with a modular design, it can be configured to eliminate the need for traditional backup power equipment and scale up as the power demand grows.