EL VI Farms Renewable Energy Facility Development

The environmental and economic benefits of anaerobic digestion of dairy manure include producing renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Dairy manure represents the nation’s largest source of methane from livestock manure management. UGI Energy Services teamed with EL-VI Farms to construct a renewable natural gas (RNG) facility in Phelps, NY. EL-VI Farms is a multi-family partnership that cares for 2,000 milking cows and grows feed for their herd locally. The client’s commitment to caring for people, animals, and land in a sustainable way made the location for this unique RNG facility essential.

The facility was designed to anaerobically digest dairy manure, a process through which bacteria break down organic matter-such as animal manure, wastewater biosolids, and food wastes-in the absence of oxygen. This facility is expected to produce 55 million cubic feet of RNG annually that is being delivered to a local national gas pipeline serving the regional distribution system.

As a subconsultant to UGI Energy Services, JMT provided services including:

• Site design
• Stormwater management design
• Municipal permitting
• Air facility registration
• Support to obtain planning board approvals
• Surveys
• Wetland delineation
• State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) environmental support