Representatives from Middlebury College, Vanguard Renewables, Vermont Gas, Goodrich Farm, and the State of Vermont gathered on August 20 at the farm in Salisbury, Vt., to mark the official groundbreaking for an anaerobic digester. The facility will combine cow manure and food waste to create Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). The project is a milestone toward the College’s goal of using 100 percent renewable energy sources, and Middlebury will be the primary consumer of the RNG produced at the dairy farm. During the event, speakers from each organization discussed the facility, which will be the largest anaerobic digester east of the Mississippi River.
“One of the key components of Middlebury’s Energy 2028 plan is to shift the College completely to the use of renewable energy,” said David Provost, Middlebury’s executive vice president for finance and administration. “The digester is fundamental to this change.”
“Another exciting aspect of the digester is how it further connects the College to the local community and Vermont,” said Laurie Patton, Middlebury president. “The College’s interest in pursuing the facility also reflects our longstanding commitment to innovative environmental education and sustainability projects. Building on our carbon neutrality initiative, it will provide our students and faculty with new research and teaching opportunities.”
Construction on the Farm Powered® anaerobic digester will be completed in 2020. RNG produced there will travel by pipeline to Middlebury College’s main power plant. Once the digester is operating, the gas it creates will supply about half of the energy that Middlebury uses for heating and cooling. The College’s biomass plant will continue to produce the other 50 percent. Both sources provide some of the College’s electricity.
Wellesley, Mass.-based Vanguard Renewables will build, own, and operate the digester, which will process 100 tons of manure and 180 tons of organic food waste daily into RNG. Vanguard is currently contacting local and Vermont-based food manufacturers to source the food waste. Vermont Gas has begun construction on Halladay Road on a 5-mile pipeline that will connect the farm with the company’s pipeline network in Addison County.
The digester’s benefits to the farm include free heat for farm use, high-quality liquid fertilizer that will reduce reliance on chemical fertilizers, and a reduction in the farm’s phosphorus levels and greenhouse gas emissions. An annual lease payment for hosting the digester will diversify the farm’s revenue sources. Located on more than 2,400 acres, the Goodrich Family Farm is a generational dairy farm with 900 milking cows. It is a member of the Agri-Mark Cabot Creamery Cooperative.
“Our family is excited to see this project transition from a dream into a reality,” said Chase Goodrich, who is among the fourth generation of his family to operate their farm. “The digester has been under discussion for a very long time, and now we could not be more encouraged to move our farm in a new direction.”
“We constantly seek innovative ways to be good stewards of the land and practice sustainable and viable agriculture,” he added. “The digester will help to continue to make this possible.”
“We also want to express our thanks to our wonderful partners,” said Goodrich, “as well as countless others who helped us accomplish this goal.”