Chesapeake Utilities purchased a 100% membership interest in Planet Found Energy Development, LLC (PFED) for $9.4 million. PFED is located in Pocomoke, Maryland.
PFED is made up of Delmarva scientists, farmers and businessmen seeking to develop technologies for poultry litter management. The acquisition is in line with Chesapeake’s renewable energy strategy, which includes the following:
- In-house technical expertise, especially in relation to organic soil amendments and future fertilizer production, an important economic component of poultry manure biogas production.
- Operates a small poultry biogas facility in Maryland that Chesapeake Utilities will use as a testing facility to help validate waste streams and fertilizer chemistry for future projects, useful for financial forecasting and potential regulatory treatment .
- Development of a second biogas farm in Maryland that the company can expand and complete.
- PFED technology and processes are scalable to accommodate future growth.
“Environmental factors are important factors when we evaluate future opportunities for Chesapeake Utilities, and the acquisition of Planet Found, located in our Delmarva service area, is an important step in advancing our efforts,” said Chesapeake CEO Jeff Householder . “The development of waste-to-energy as part of a low-carbon energy strategy has become of significant interest to energy supply companies and their investors. Chesapeake Utilities, located in an area with significant agricultural facilities and waste sources, owns industry Knowledge, energy transmission asset base and willingness to deploy capital to play a leading role in biogas production and transmission in its service area. Following the completion of our first RNG transportation project in Ohio last year, we are now expanding renewable energy transmission solutions A portfolio of solutions. Planet Found enhances our expertise, technology and know-how for biogas and RNG development projects of all sizes in Delmarva and beyond.”
In some ways, renewable natural gas is seen as a way to produce natural gas. Although a fossil fuel, renewable natural gas reduces the amount of methane that ends up in the atmosphere. In Delmarva, renewable natural gas also addresses the problem of poultry waste and wastewater from processing plants that can end up in distant fields and waterways.
Chesapeake proposed trucking renewable natural gas to its Delmarva utility system.
Gas can be extracted from landfills, poultry plants and livestock.
Critics of renewable natural gas strongly oppose a plant near Seaford. Others in the environmental community support projects to extract the gas and turn the waste into fertilizer.