How cow dung power plant may fuel Victorian farms

A machine that can turn cow dung into electricity will be trialled by a Victorian dairy farm — and hopes are growing that farmers could build their own.

Agriculture Victoria hopes a machine that can turn cow dung into power will be completed mid-next year.

Cow dung will be turned into electricity on a Victorian dairy farm in an effort to make it carbon neutral.

The cow pats would be harvested and fed into a processing plant known as an “anaerobic digester” – which turns manure into methane that can be captured and used as an energy source.

The state government-owned Ellinbank SmartFarm, in Gippsland, has taken the proposal to the market seeking someone to build the system.

Agriculture Victoria hopes that the successful construction and use of a machine that can turn animal waste into a source of power for the farm will then encourage private farmers to consider building their own anaerobic digesters.

Cow dung will be turned into electricity on a Victorian dairy farm.

According to tender documents, the water used on the farm for cleaning the milking plant and yards is mixed with cow dung to create an “effluent stream” of up to 40,000L a day that then flows into three ponds.

The main pond retains the solids and allows the nutrient-rich liquids to flow to the two remaining storage ponds.

Once separated, the solids would be fed into the anaerobic digester to generate power for the farm.

Other farming by-products, such as bad hay, could also be used to generate electricity through the system.

The water left over from the separation process is already sprayed on to pastures and recycled to flush the dairy yard and feedpad, thus reducing the use of fresh water.

The new project would be funded under the Agricultural Energy Investment Plan.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said farmers “have long told everybody that manure is gold, not waste”.

“Manure is classed as industrial waste and there’s so much more potential, so it’s great to see further research and innovation to enable farmers to farm more sustainably and potentially have another energy source,” Ms Germano said.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano. Picture: Emma Field

However, she warned technology such as anaerobic digesters would likely be unviable for individual farmers without government subsidy.

“Europe is already doing it and you will see it on individual farms but it supported government subsidy to make it more viable,” she said.

“As markets develop and we get smarter with our climate change policy, it will potentially be another source of income and revenue for farmers.”

The Ellinbank SmartFarm operates as a commercial dairy farm with about 450 cows.

It is used by the research arm of Agriculture Victoria for innovation projects, such as the anaerobic digester, and workforce training.

It is part of the DairyBio and DairyFeedbase programs which are operated by government and industry bodies and designed to improve the environmental effects and profitability of the dairy sector.

The cow dung power plant is expected to be completed mid-next year.