Consumers Energy and Swisslane Farms Partner to Deliver Renewable Fuel for Michigan
New biodigester facility at historic West Michigan dairy farm to produce renewable natural gas to heat homes, help environment Consumers Energy today announced an agreement with Swisslane Farms to build a biodigester facility that will convert agricultural waste into clean, renewable natural gas, or RNG. RNG is renewable fuel, interchangeable with conventional natural gas. Produced from organic wastes and other renewable sources, it can help heat Michigan homes, power stoves and dry grain for farmers. RNG is a key technology available to reduce methane emissions, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. Swisslane Farms, located in Kent County, plans to provide manure from its dairy cows to the production facility, which means the manure would no longer be stored in open lagoons where it produces methane released to the atmosphere. Instead, the closed biodigester will contain the manure and capture the methane, clean and condition it, and place it in existing gas pipelines....