Chicken manure power plant not such a ‘fowl’ idea
Chicken manure could soon be powering parts of south-east Queensland.
The $18 million Cleveland Power plant, located in Mount Cotton, will use biomass technology to run on about 60,000 tonnes of chicken manure and sawdust a year.
The project, owned by chicken supplier Golden Cockerel, could be up and running by mid-2014.
The biomass plant, which will utilise organic matter and animal waste as chemical energy to provide electricity, has the potential to produce enough electricity to power more than 7000 households, which would cover the towns of Cleveland,
Sheldon and Mt Cotton.
The poultry industry in southeast Queensland disposes of 250,000 tonnes of chicken manure each year, which shows the vast potential of projects like this to be powered using waste products.
The project will prevent the emission of about 120,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases.
Cleveland Power development manager David Bray said the Mount Cotton project was expected to create 87 jobs, 70 of which would be in the 18-month construction phase due to begin next March.
Redland City Mayor Karen Williams said her city needed to encourage and support innovation, particularly in the area of renewable energy, to build on the city’s strong environmental credentials.
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