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| Harley Sietsema unveils his project — a biomass facility to convert turkey waste into steam and electric energy for feed production — to a crowd of hundreds Friday in Howard City. |
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10/23/2009 11:56:00 PM
Alternative energy facility opens to accolades in Howard City
Elisabeth Waldon
Staff Writer
PIERSON TOWNSHIP - Some machines are started with the push of a lever.
Harley Sietsema fired up his biomass gassification system Friday with the click of a mouse.
Sietsema Farm Feeds was the site of a commissioning ceremony as Heat Transfer International (HTI) of Kentwood and The Right Place Inc. of Grand Rapids partnered with Sietsema to officially open a $3 million facility to convert turkey waste into steam and electric energy for feed production. The operation is housed on a 40-acre site at 19117 Lake Montcalm Road next to the Sietsema grain elevator just south of Howard City.
Several hundred people attended the event, including Montcalm County District 6 Commissioner Ron Baker; State Rep. Brian Calley, R-Portland; Montcalm County Board of Commissioners Chairman Patrick Q. Carr; Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth Deputy Director Liesl Eicher Clark; State Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt; former State Rep. Judy Emmons, R-Sheridan; State Rep. Mike Huckleberry, D-Greenville; Michigan Department of Agriculture Director Don Koivisto; Winfield Township Board Supervisor Phyllis Larson; Pierson Township Board Supervisor Brian Longcore; and Howard City Village President Mike Scott.
The biomass system will utilize 1.5 million turkeys to convert 70,000 pounds of turkey litter into 12,000 kilowatts of electricity and 206,400 pounds of steam each day. The system is housed in a new 15,000-square-foot building with room to grow.
Sietsema said the operation is expected to "drastically" reduce the plant's energy expenses, which currently average more than $500,000 annually.
"I really appreciate the local, the state, even the federal representation today," Sietsema said. "We appreciate their support and their involvement. Our objective is to look down the road and see where the agricultural industry needs to be in the future."
U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development State Director Jim Turner declared the facility to be "state-of-the-art."
"This is one of the most innovative projects you'll see," he said. "This is a great day."
HTI President Dave Prouty said 10 to 12 businesses are "sitting on the fence" with similar projects as they wait and see how Sietsema fares. The audience erupted into applause as Prouty called for bank loans and improved financing to support these projects.
"The technology you see here has the potential to change the way we do business in Michigan," Prouty said. "We are the technology leaders. We are here today because Harley Sietsema took a risk. What HTI has built is standing on the shoulders of giant men. We really are leading the world at this point."
Prouty said hundreds of jobs have been created through this venture with Michigan businesses being used for more than 90 percent of the needed supplies.
"You don't have to have electricity to make steam and you don't have to have steam to make electricity," he said. "That is unheard of at every other power plant in the world."
Rick Chapla, vice president of business development for The Right Place, said everyone in Michigan has a stake in this venture.
"We are excited that you will create hundreds of jobs here in Howard City, in the city of Kentwood and in Winn (headquarters of Mobark Inc., a wood reduction equipment manufacturer) and we expect that you will make millions of dollars," he said.
According to Phase 3 Renewables Operating Manager Norma MacDonald of Cincinnati, Ohio, the venture has "environmental sustainability, economic viability and energy independence." Using the same technology as an airplane engine, the project is the first in the world to combine an air turbine with a generator to create electricity fueled by hot air, MacDonald said. The emissions will be very low and clean, she added.
"Animal agriculture feeds us, animal agriculture can feed the land and now animal agriculture can create energy," MacDonald said. "Biomass has a really important place in tomorrow's future."
Gov. Jennifer Granholm was expected to attend Friday's ceremony, but issued a statement via a press release instead.
"We want to transform Michigan from the rust belt to the green belt," Granholm said. "This project is a great contribution and example of what we are doing to diversify Michigan's economy while reducing our dependence on foreign oil, creating jobs and growing our state's renewable energy sector."
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