Demand Response Helps Poultry Farm

Savings Hatch Farm Improvements

Schipper Eggs has been delivering millions of eggs around the country for decades and chances are pretty good that you have enjoyed one.

That’s because the Holland farm is one of the largest producers in Michigan and supplies eggs to many different local and national grocery store chains such as Meijer and Costco.

As the poultry farm has grown from housing several hundred chickens to 1.6 million over the years since its inception in 1918, costs have gone up as has the need for more power.

Enter Consumers Energy, which continues to help Schipper’s get the reliable service that they depend on while helping them save thousands of dollars through rebates and incentives. All with an eye toward a sustainable energy future. And there’s more to come. “As a company, we try to be as cutting edge and sophisticated as possible,” said Tim Hofman, General Manager for Schipper Eggs LLC.

“And Consumers Energy has helped us with that mission. The customer service has been excellent in bringing us up to speed on the latest cost saving programs.”

One program that got Schipper’s attention, was signing up for emergency demand response.

Here’s how it works: when electric load is high on the grid in summer, the demand response program asks businesses to keep their energy use to a minimum until otherwise notified. Together, demand response participants create a “virtual” power plant that helps manage Michigan’s energy needs. And since demand response is “virtual” the electricity provided is green and renewable.

Just for signing up and being available if an emergency is called, Schipper is paid $25 for each KW they nominate to reduce in case of an emergency. Even if there is no emergency called, they are still paid. Each October, they will receive a bill credit of $25,000, whether an emergency is called or not. Each time Schipper is requested to do that, it receives an additional incentive of about $200.

Consumers Energy has helped businesses save more than $4 billion through its energy efficiency programs. The farm is also receiving savings from the LED bulbs that it installed with the help of Consumers Energy through its energy efficiency program in buildings throughout the farm, including buildings housing chickens.

“On a farm any time you can save money and it helps you with your efficiency — you take it,” said Hofman, who has about 50 employees on the farm. “We reinvest whatever savings we get right back into the farm.” That includes machinery used to harvest the corn and soybeans on the 1,000-acre farm.

The grain is then used to help feed the chickens who eat up to 200 tons of food each day. “It’s not easy being a farmer, it’s a tough, tough business,” Hofman said. “You learn to take from the good times and save them for the bad times. That’s why it helps to have somebody like Consumers Energy to be there for you in all times.”

Hofman said despite all the uncertainty in the world, farmers will continue to wake up each morning, harvest their fields and provide for millions of people. It helps to get an assist when needed.

“Farmers keep moving, no matter what is going on,” he said. “We need to keep moving. We don’t have a choice, people are depending on us, just like they depend on their energy provider.”

By the Numbers

21 dozen - amount of eggs on average American consumes

50 Employees on Schipper Farm

200 Daily tons of feed for the chickens

1,200,000 Eggs produced on the farm daily

1,600,000 Chickens on the farm

227,000,000 million dozen eggs per year from all Michigan Layers—enough eggs for each Michigan resident to consume 23 dozen per year

Meeting Company Sustainability Goals Through Food Waste Landfill Diversion

Food waste statistics in the United States are staggering – the U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimated that between 30 percent and 40 percent of the food supply goes to waste. In 2010, this translated to about 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food. Wasted food is the single largest category of material placed in municipal landfills.

To put that into context, one year of food waste in the U.S. gives off greenhouse gas emissions equal to:

• the emissions of more than 42 coal-fired power plants in a year

• enough water and energy to supply more than 50 million homes annually

• the amount of fertilizer used in the U.S. to grow all plant-based foods for U.S. human consumption annually

• an area of agricultural land equal to California and New York.

Major American corporations have committed to reduce food loss and waste in their U.S. operations by 50 percent by the year 2030 through an initiative by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called the U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions. Amazon, General Mills, Meijer, Starbucks, Unilever, Walmart and Walt Disney World have all committed to the initiative.

As companies work toward sustainability initiatives, putting food waste to good use can be an effective and fulfilling path to meet environmental goals. For smaller businesses, establishing and meeting sustainability goals can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. By partnering with a commercial digester, companies can recycle food waste that would otherwise be sent to a landfill, making a positive impact on local communities and the environment.

At the Fremont Regional Digester, a 2.85-megawatt anaerobic digester in West Michigan, we offer a sustainable path for food waste that supports the local economy. The digester takes in 165,000 tons of food waste every year, and naturally occurring micro-organisms break down food waste inside a sealed tank. This releases methane-rich biogas, which is harnessed to produce renewable electricity. Once the waste has been processed, the remaining organic material is used as a natural fertilizer on more than 1,000 acres of local farmland each year.

We obtain food waste from more than 30 sources per month, including packaged food manufacturers, growers, processors and distributors located across Michigan. The waste is primarily derived from the manufacturing and processing of food you could find at your local grocery store.

By working with the digester, companies can help meet their landfill diversion initiatives while also decreasing their carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. Partnering with the digester is also competitively priced in comparison to landfill or wastewater alternatives.

The digester facilitates the transportation of food waste and fertilizer and makes it easy to track improvements through regular reporting to help companies quantify their environmental impact.

Business leaders interested in learning more can visit fremontdigester.com/services or call 231-928-8008 for more information.

Nate Carr is regional operations manager at Generate Capital Inc., a sustainable infrastructure platform. He oversees the operations of three anaerobic digesters.

How On-Site Solar Energy Works and How It Applies to Food Processors and Manufacturers

Introduction: Equipped with an education and passion in mathematics and physics, coupled with a fortunate opportunity in an emerging solar energy industry, I have been fortunate to build a career been involving hundreds of unique and challenging commercial solar projects throughout Michigan and the Midwest. The bulk of these projects have been in the agribusiness space – small and large corn and soybean farms, large livestock facilities, cold storage facilities, food processing plants, small and large manufacturers, and many other (mostly) rural businesses. This goal of this blog is to offer education on solar energy technology and how it might apply to a food producer, a manufacturer, or any other facility in the food processing supply chain.

Technical Introduction: There are numerous forms of solar energy such as heating water, heating air, generating electricity, and infinite variations for transforming solar energy into other forms of useful energy. In the context of this blog, we are talking about generating electricity with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels and using that energy in a commercial application. There are sometimes cases of off-site solar farms, community solar gardens, and other similar projects or ideas. This conversation relates specifically to on-site solar at an existing facility. A Solar PV array turns solar energy from the Sun into electricity by harnessing free electrons as direct current (DC) power in a solar cell. This DC power is then inverted into AC power in a configuration that works for each unique facility. The image below shows how the sunlight results in the free electrons that are harnessed as electrical potential. This is where my passion kicks in as I could carry on for hours about the technical details of a solar cell or solar array, but I will focus this conversation on the actual functionality and application of the technology on a commercial scale.

Let’s now think about where these electrons are actually going...Are they charging batteries? Are they powering specific equipment or lights or loads? Are they going onto the grid in return for financial compensation? Are they powering an entire facility? Well, as you might guess, the answer is unique to each facility allowing any combination of these possibilities. In most scenarios, especially in commercial applications in Michigan, the most common situation is to be grid-tied “behind the meter” without storage (batteries). This means the solar energy is feeding into your facility to be consumed directly. By the time the solar energy gets to your facility, the electricity has been inverted, transformed, and modified to match the incoming grid power (including phase and frequency). Therefore, your distribution panels, machinery, lights, and other electrical loads will not recognize if they are running on solar power or grid power or a combination of both. However, from the perspective of the utility billing meter, you have purchased less energy from the power company because some portion of your usage was offset by the solar energy.

When you picture this flow of electricity, you might rightfully wonder what happens to the solar electricity when you are generating more than the facility is using even if just for an instant. In most cases, this energy pushes back onto the grid and the facility is credited by the power company. The rates and rules associated with this export of energy is a case-by- case situation depending on utility policy, State policy, project size, and other variables.

Preliminary Design and Due Diligence The physical representation of a commercial solar array can greatly vary. Possibilities include roof-mounted arrays, ground-mounted arrays, carport structures with or without EV chargers, and more. There are many variables in this decision and a solar professional should work closely with the facility to determine the ideal design. Solar generation efficiency, access to the equipment, longevity, aesthetics, soil type or roofing type, utility policy, township ordinances, and project cost are all important considerations when developing an optimal design. It is always and highly recommended that a commercial facility obtains opinions from multiple solar energy experts to compare recommendations.

Financial Implications Upon completion of initial feasibility due diligence, the economic impact should absolutely be considered. The most common scenario for a commercial business is to simply purchase and own a solar array that is designed and installed by one or more contractors allowing direct benefits from the available tax incentives, grant programs, rebates, and electric bill savings. Every situation is very different and the return on investment for a solar project will heavily be based on the need for tax incentives. Another significant factor is kWh rates and rate structures from the utility provider. We are regularly seeing payback periods between five and ten years, often even quicker. With a legitimate lifetime of over 30 years for a structure with zero moving parts, on-site commercial solar projects are often very financially attractive. This is critical to keep in mind, as there are sometimes assumptions that there is the need to trade cost-effectiveness for environmental friendliness. In MOST cases, financial and non-financial benefits coexist where the choice between the two is no longer applicable. This is beautifully outlined in Norman Christopher’s previous blog.

Current financial incentives for solar installations in Michigan include (among other incentives):

• Federal Tax Credit of 26% of total project cost

• Accelerated Depreciation

• Potential grant programs through USDA, MDARD, MEDC, EGLE, MSU, and more

• Unique and creative financing mechanisms that are only available to solar projects

There is a creative financing structure that is becoming much more common and beneficial to the industry. It is called a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). A PPA holds a third-party owner/investor that pays for the solar project for the

facility. The facility then agrees to purchase the solar generation at a certain rate per kWh, often with an annual escalator. This agreement is typically designed in a way that gives the investor a satisfactory ROI while resulting in overall savings to the end user with no capital investment.

Storage, Peak Shaving, and Other Solar Energy Uses Utility rate structures often include significant charges for monthly peak demand, as opposed to the actual amount of energy consumed. There are also time-of-day rates that charge more or less per kWh for different times of the day. Storm outages and rolling blackouts are also a concern to a commercial facility. These are all concerns that can be at least partially alleviated with storage (batteries); however, there are also downsides with storage such as longevity, cost, and rapidly improving technologies.

The current factors in Michigan deviate from storage to effectively make financial sense. With peak demand rates increasing and battery efficiency continues to improve, the solar industry and commercial facilities will start to see more implementation of storage alongside on-site solar. Storage possibilities are another aspect that should be discussed with your solar professional(s).

Food Processing and Manufacturing Applications The content thus far can be applied to a wide range of applications and facilities. Specifically, food processors and related businesses such as farms, cold storage, and manufacturing facilities have unique benefits that other businesses may not necessarily have available. Some examples are:

• Physical Space: The nature of these types of businesses typically allows for more physical space for solar energy than – say for example – an office building in downtown Grand Rapids. These facilities are often in rural areas with some available ground space, and/or have large open roof space to be used.

• Customer Base and Supply Chain Image: Now more than ever the public is looking to food producers that show strong sustainable practices. On-site solar can be a large step in the direction of a company’s clean energy initiatives.

• Energy Consumption: Whether drying grain, raising livestock, running processing/manufacturing equipment, or keeping a large warehouse below a certain temperature, food processors use a large amount of energy relative to other commercial businesses. Therefore, cost-effective and clean energy is critical when implemented properly.

• Food Processors and related businesses are often in rural areas that sometimes comes with additional financial incentives such as the USDA REAP Grant.

• Food Processors have a long and complex supply chain. The farmers growing the food have needed years and decades to perfect their soil and their methods. This food then needs to be transported, stored, processed, stored again, transported again, etc. where this practice allows these types of businesses to have more deeply thought-out long-term plans for many future generations. This mindset of longevity holds an aligned match for solar due to the durability of a solar energy system paired with the increased value over time protecting against unpredictable factors such as increasing energy rates.

Take Action As this blog has pointed out, every situation and facility require a custom in-depth analysis from a solar professional to determine if a project is feasible, and what that project would physically and financially entail. In your initial due diligence, it is recommended to not only research solar installers and solar developers, but also obtain recommendations while seeking advice from local industry associations. Two examples of this in Michigan are the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association (GLREA) and the Michigan Energy Innovative Business Council (EIBC), but there are many helpful organizations to assist.

The surface of the topic on solar energy has only been skimmed to provide a preliminary introduction to the journey to go solar. I pride myself on being an informative ally into the solar energy world welcoming all questions and inquiries this may spark. I cannot fit everything into this blog, so please do not hesitate to contact me!

Ken Zebarah

Harvest Solar

734-790-0673

ken@harvestsolar.com