The American Biogas Council announced the winners of its Biogas Industry Awards, presented at a sold out dinner celebration at BioCycle REFOR16 in Orlando, Florida. The winners included five biogas systems, one innovation and one individual all recognized for their contributions to the growth of the U.S. biogas industry. In addition, 34 projects received the ABC's first longevity awards given to biogas systems which have been continuously operating for more than five years.
The award ceremony followed the announcement of 13 projects and innovations which made the ABC's shortlist, the finalists for the Biogas Industry Awards.
"Not only are these projects great examples for future project development, our winners are breaking new ground for the growing biogas industry," remarked ABC Chairman Bernie Sheff of ES Engineering Services. "I'm so proud to be awarding the shining stars of the industry and look forward to the next wave of projects that are already following in their footsteps."
Winners
1. Agricultural Project of the Year—Real Farm Power, Hadley, Massachusetts
2. Institutional Project of the Year—UW-Oshkosh Urban Dry Digester, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
3. Merchant Project of the Year—Central Ohio BioEnergy (COBE), Columbus, Ohio
4. Municipal Project of the Year—Waste Management-LA County Sanitation District's Food Scrap-Wastewater Biogas System, Orange, California
5. Friend of the ABC—Ruckman Farm, Albany, Missouri
6. Innovation of the Year—Synergy Biogas, Convington, New York
7. Biogas Visionary—Norma McDonald, Organic Waste Systems, Cincinnati
Among many accolades, Norma has paved the way for ABC's state policy committee, turned unused wind credits in Iowa into biogas credits, provided analytical horsepower behind the scenes to the Biogas Opportunities Roadmap and identified an obscure IRS issue that, once fixed, will save project developers hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars per gas interconnection
8. Longevity Awards
Biogas systems that have been continuously operating for more than 10 years:
- Blue Spruce Farm - Bridport, Vermont
- Bos Farm #4 -Fair Oaks, Indiana
- Fair Oaks Dairy -Fair Oaks, Indiana
- FPE Renewables -Lynden, Washington
- Gordondale Farms - Nelsonville, Wisconsin
- Holsum Irish Dairy -Hilbert, Wisconsin
- Hunter Haven Farms - Pearl City, Illinois
Biogas systems that have been continuously operating for 5+ years:
- Aurora Ridge Dairy - Aurora, New York
- Bach Digester LLC - Dorchester, Wisconsin
- Berkshire Cow Power - Richford, Vermont
- Bos Farm #1 & #2 - Fair Oaks, Indiana
- Boxler Dairy - Varysburg, New York
- Bridgewater Dairy - Montpelier, Ohio
- Central Ohio BioEnergy (COBE) - Columbus, Ohio
- Central Sands Dairy - Nekoosa, Wisconsin
- Clover Hill Dairy - Campbellsport, Wisconsin
- DF-AP #1 - Gooding, Idaho
- Dry Creek Dairy - Hansen, Idaho
- George DeRuter & Sons Dairy - Outlook, Washington
- Gervais Family Farm - Enosburg, Vermont
- Green Mountain Dairy - Sheldon, Vermont
- Herrema Dairy - Fair Oaks, Indiana
- Hidden View Dairy - Rensselaer, Indiana
- Holsum Elm Dairy - Chilton, Wisconsin
- Neighborhood Energy - Newport, Vermont
- Pagel's Ponderosa - Kewaunee, Wisconsin
- Qualco Energy Corp. - Monroe, Washington
- Scenic View Dairy - Fennville, Michigan
- Statz Bros. - Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
- Sunnyside Farms - Scipio Center, New York
- Swiss Valley Farms - Warsaw, New York
- UW-Oshkosh Urban Dry Digester - Oshkosh, Wisconsin
- Westminster Energy Group - Westminster, Vermont
- Willow Point Dairy - Ionia, Michigan
