Latest renewable gas plant in Madison County completed and pumping fuel to northeast Florida
Overhead view of Chesapeake Utility Corporation's RNG production facility at Full Circle Dairy in Lee, FL.

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation Florida facility
"Dairy" plant that turns cow manure into renewable natural gas completed in North Central Florida.

The latest renewable natural gas (RNG) plant is now online in North Central Florida. Chesapeake Utilities Corp. commissioned its new dairy renewable natural gas facility in Lee.

The Full Circle Dairy RNG plant was opened last week in Lee in North Central Florida. Chesapeake Utilities spent $22 million on the facility which, to be clear on the “dairy” facet of the plant, turns manure from dairy cows into “pipeline quality” RNG for distribution, a company news release said. Full Circle Dairy is the long-established dairy company and operation in Lee famous for T.G. Lee products.

The RNG facility actually began production in June and the final aspects of construction and operational touches were finished in late October. The plant is producing and redirecting “more than 1,100 metric tons of methane per year into a renewable energy source, an emission reduction equivalent to powering 3,500 homes for a year.”

Jeff Householder, board chair, president and CEO of Chesapeake Utilities, said the facility is an example of careful partnership.

“The RNG facility at FCD is a great example of our ability to leverage our expertise across the entire energy delivery value chain — from production to virtual pipeline transportation, injection, transmission and distribution – while supporting our strategic focus on prudent capital deployment,” Householder said. “We share FCD’s commitment to innovative approaches that result in a more sustainable future for customers and our local communities.”

The FPU Renewables LLC actually built the physical facility in Madison County. FPU Renewables is a subsidiary Florida Public Utilities. Chesapeake Utilities is the entity that transports through its subsidiary Marlin Gas Services.

The transportation of the gas aspect goes through a virtual pipeline from the Lee facility in North Central Florida to Northeast Florida. The destination for the RNG is Yulee in Nassau County along Florida’s First Coast area. Residents in the Northeast Florida county are the primary customers of the gas produced at the facility cranking out the RNG. Chesapeake Utilities is a well-established gas transportation company based in Dover, Delaware.

Drew Dixon

Drew Dixon is a journalist of 40 years who has reported in print and broadcast throughout Florida, starting in Ohio in the 1980s. He is also an adjunct professor of philosophy and ethics at three colleges, Jacksonville University, University of North Florida and Florida State College at Jacksonville. You can reach him at [email protected].


4 comments

  • Margaret

    November 3, 2024 at 2:11 pm

    Question: I would like to know more about how they process the manure and what happens to the residue left (if any), or whether the residue can be used for gardening purposes as fertilizer.

    If so, then this is an excellent idea in an environmental sense as a replacement for fertilizers which mess with the ecology from run-of, as well as messing with human health in other permanent ways, such as genetic damage.

  • My Take

    November 7, 2024 at 4:01 pm

    Anarobic (oxygen free) digestionby bacteria (methanogens) makes the methane.
    I wonder about the sludge too.
    Processed sludge from some municipal treatment plants in SE Florida go to citrus groves I’ve read.

    • My Take

      November 7, 2024 at 4:04 pm

      Anaerobic

  • Confident

    November 8, 2024 at 8:40 pm

    More land grabs and more highrise spinning in the sky

Comments are closed.


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