Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/164142
UP FRONT Regional Roundup » 13 n Face Time » 19 n Connections » 22 Locating bioscience development here is going to help develop our region economically. As this cluster continues to develop, you're going to have expanded manufacturing opportunities that tie into this industry." – Rob Kleman, senior vice president of economic development at the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce By S ean Lyons Digesting savings The University of WisconsinOshkosh keeps getting greener: It's expected to produce up to 70 percent of its electrical needs upon completing its new biogas production facility and biodigester this December. "It's the largest, commercialscale digester in the nation," says Thomas Sonnleitner, vice chancellor of administrative services at UW-Oshkosh. The $7 million facility will produce heat and electricity using livestock waste from its location 15 miles away at the Rosendale Dairy farm in Pickett. Rosendale Dairy is the state's largest dairy farm and has more than 9,000 cows. The facility will also function as a public education center and as an off-campus classroom and laboratory, as well as generate revenue for new student scholarships for the UW-Oshkosh Foundation. The university, in partnership with the UW-Oshkosh Foundation, Milk Source, BIOFerm Energy Systems and its parent company, the Viessmann Group, broke ground for the facility at Rosendale in July. The biodigester is actually the university's third biodigester facility to be built. One of the digesters is located on campus and accounts for up to 10 percent of the university's electrical needs. The other one is small 12 | Insight • S e p t e m b e r 2 013 C o u r t e s y o f U W - Os h k o s h New UW-Oshkosh biodigester will be largest of its kind in U.S. The new UW-Oshkosh biodigester under construction at the Rosendale Dairy in Pickett will provide most of the electricity for the campus when it's completed later this year. and has little effect on the school. The Rosendale facility dwarfs the other two and will process 240 tons of fuel each day. "The digester we have on campus today is responsible for eight to 10 percent of the University's electricity. That's 370 kilowatts," says Sonnleitner. "This plant will produce 2.2 megawatts. That's seven times the one we have on campus. Using both will generate around 80 percent of our electrical usage." The facility brings the university one massive step closer to its goal of achieving carbon neutrality. The university originally planned on achieving this by 2025. However, that target date will be lowered to around 2018-19 instead. The facility itself will be completed by the end of the year, eliminating most of the university's carbon footprint in a matter of months. Sonnleitner touched on yet another perk of the developing facility — its functionality as a fertilizer producer. "The digester that will process w w w. i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m