Newtown, Pa.-Buoyed by its first plant’s success at burning turkey litter to generate electricity and then turning the ash into fertilizer, Fibrowatt USA is close to a decision to expand into North Carolina. Fibrowatt officials told Green Markets they’ve been offered 40 different opportunities, and press reports indicate that three plants would be built at the same time, with seven or eight locations still under consideration. “Our success with the plant in Benson, Minn., has brought a whole lot of interest in what we are doing from other parts of the country,” reported Fibrowatt spokesman Terry Walmsley. While the company also has its sights on Arkansas, Mississippi, and Maryland, Walmsley, Fibrowatt’s vice president of environmental and public affairs, said the North Carolina locations offer the same kind of conditions found in Minnesota, with a high concentration of poultry operations. He said Fibrowatt remains committed to generate power and then turn the poultry ash into a fertilizer product. “We’re still interested in producing nutrient material that could be distributed in this area or even moved outside the state.” He added that there’s interest in a different product than what is being produced in Minnesota – perhaps higher valued in granular or pellet form. North American Fertilizer handles the fertilizer processing at the Minnesota plant, Walmsley noted, but that aspect could be opened to bidding in North Carolina. The projects are being spurred by legislation passed this year by the state general assembly requiring power companies to begin using renewable energy sources, with at least 900,000 megawatt hours of electricity from poultry litter by 2014.
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