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11/13/2015 Slow,stinky start to Le Sueur,Minn.,green-energy project-StarTribune.com BUSINESS Slow, stinky start to Le Sueur, Minn., green-energy project The federally subsidized plant is generating less electricity,more odor. By David Shaffer(http://www.startribune.com/david-Shaffer/10645931/)Star Tribune OCTOBER 17,2015—2:00PM LE SUEUR,Minn.-Nearly two years after going online,an innovative,municipally owned power plant that burns methane from agricultural waste is generating only a faction of its promised electricity. The$45 million plant,built partly with federal aid in this city 50 miles southwest of Minneapolis,also is producing something its promoters said it wouldn't—stink. "It is like living next to a giant poop plant,"said Katie Terwedo,the closest neighbor to the Hometown BioEnergy plant that began operating in late 2013. Although the plant has steadily increased its power output,it remains well short of its goal of generating electricity for 12 hours or more per day.In the first three quarters of 2015,it operated at just 12 percent of its capacity,or about three hours per day on average. The plant's owner,Minnesota Municipal Power Agency(MMPA),and its operator, Minneapolis-based Avant Energy,express confidence in the technology.They said that odors are being addressed and that ramping up to full-scale power generation was expected to take time. "We would be very happy to reach 12 hours(of daily power generation]in five or six years,"said Derick Dahlen,CEO of Avant Energy,which gets an unspecified payment to operate the plant and collected a share of the$11 million in fees to plan and build it. i'. At that pace,the plant would reach its expected generating output around 2020,the state's deadline for most Minnesota utilities to get 20 percent of their electricity from- renewable sources. (http://stmedia.startribune.corn/images/ows_14450291652571 The challenge,executives said,is finding the best mix of agricultural wastes.They're DAVID SHAFFER•STAR TRIBUNE dumped into tanks called anaerobic digesters,where bacteria produce methane,or The Hometown BioEnergy plant in Le Sueur natural gas,to run power generators.An innovative feature of the Le Sueur plant is three turns farm and food industry waste into fabric domes that store methane so that generators can run only when electricity methane to generate electricity.ity.Methane i... demand is high. Husks from sweet corn processing are the primary waste"feedstock"for the plant.But more than 25 agriculture and food industry wastes,from manure to cheese whey,have been tested with the aim of signing contracts to take the most advantageous,said Kelsey Dillon,Avant Energy vice president of biopower. "Our objective is to have as much feedstock diversity as possible,"said Dillon,and each new waste requires test loads in the anaerobic digester."It was always intended that we would need a ramp-up as we are bringing in those different feedstocks." Early questions about plant The plant,largely funded with municipal-backed bonds and$8 million in federal aid, has generated controversy from the beginning. John Schultz,a critic of the plant who is a former member of the Le Sueur City Council and MMPA board of directors,said he never heard,until now,that the plant would take many years to reach its power-generation target. "The implication was that in a very short order it would be a functioning plant,"Schultz said."They could have put up a solar project for a fraction of the cost and had it running the first day." 156 http://www.startribune.com/slow-stinky-start-to-le-Sueur-minn-green-energy-project/333334521/ 1/3