Biogas
This report serves as a follow up to the 2021 Wisconsin Biogas and Feedstock Survey.
In this report we explore how anaerobic digesters are being used in Wisconsin’s agricultural sector today, including their advantages and disadvantages. We conducted on-site visits and interviews at two Wisconsin dairy farms with digesters and one multi-farm digester facility. We describe what has made these digesters successful, potential opportunities and roadblocks, and how they are choosing to move forward. We also provide a series of Wisconsin maps to take a preliminary look at the locations of dairy farms, natural gas pipelines, digesters, and the potential for renewable natural gas (RNG) production from dairy digesters.
Read the Wisconsin Anaerobic Digester Operations: Dairy Industry Case Studies.
The individual case studies are included in the report. You can also view and download each one separately:
This report is intended to quantify and support the biogas-related efforts in Wisconsin. Based on a new statewide Biogas Feedstock and Industry Survey, this report serves as a follow-up to a previous Biogas Survey Report conducted by Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, Office of Energy Innovation (OEI) in 2016. This current study will support Wisconsin’s Clean Energy Plan (to be released in 2021), a plan resulting from the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change Report (State of Wisconsin, 2020).
The survey findings included in this report highlight the current status of biogas facilities including operation, maintenance, and sources of biodigester feedstocks. Survey results also identify biogas and energy production, process by-products, as well as industry opportunities and challenges, potential supportive policies and recommendations.
In partnership with OEI staff, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) team designed a survey and sent it to more than 300 Wisconsin biogas facilities related to biogas operations, including dairy and agricultural operations, wastewater treatment facilities, landfills, industrial and food processing facilities. The data collection included both electronic and mail-in survey questionnaires. Eighty-two respondents participated in the survey providing valuable data and information. The findings from this study can be used to address the barriers and challenges of biogas industries and promote biogas production and use in Wisconsin.
Read the Wisconsin Biogas and Feedstock Survey Final Report.