A British corporation named Fibrowatt Ltd. has built three poultry waste incinerators in the UK (later sold to Energy Power Resources Ltd.). They later set up shop in the U.S. with plans to build many more. Their first U.S. target was Benson, Minnesota, where they built the largest "biomass" incinerator in the country - a 50 Megawatt plant that burns 500,000 tons of turkey litter a year, plus 100,000-200,000 tons a crops and/or agricultural wastes. Before the plant was even built, they sold off ownership of the Fibrominn plant to a New York City hedge fund, ContourGlobal's PowerMinn 9090, LLC. Fibrowatt, LLC (now owned by the holding company Homeland Renewable Energy) is promoting several incinerators in the U.S., but does not currently own any. Organized community opposition has stopped Fibrowatt's plans in several communities in the U.S. and Europe.

Fibrowatt's air emissions have been the subject of controversy. The permit granted for their Fibrominn project allows them to be Minnesota's largest single source of arsenic pollution, their largest source of sulfuric acid air emissions, their 2nd largest source of hydrochloric acid air emissions, and a significant new source of dioxin pollution. Based on air pollution permit data, for several pollutants, Fibrowatt's incinerators would be dirtier than newly-built coal power plants (which we also vigorously oppose).

Once in operation, Fibrominn has racked up numerous violations, including having exceeded permit air pollution limits for nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. As a result, the state of Minnesota fined them $65,000 and required that they install a new sulfur dioxide monitor at a minimum cost of $80,000. See the state's Stipulation Agreement for more details.

Poultry waste is NOT a clean fuel. Biomass is NOT "green" energy.

Poultry litter consists of about half chicken or turkey manure and half bedding (wood shavings and sawdust). Fibrowatt's incinerator projects seek to burn about 75% poultry litter plus about 25% "vegetative biomass," which could be anything from crops grown specifically to be burned to crop residue from traditional agriculture to otherwise "non-valuable" wood cut from logging operations in forests.

There are other companies besides Fibrowatt seeking to build poultry and other animal waste incinerators. However, Fibrowatt is the big player, seeking to build the largest of them - and the only one in the U.S. seeking to make electricity to be sold as "green" energy to gullible consumers.

Fibrowatt tends to come up with new names for each of their projects. Below is a list of existing and proposed poultry litter incinerators. They are targeting communities where there is a concentration of poultry waste production from large poultry agribusiness. They aim to truck in poultry waste from a 50 mile radius, sometimes going as far as 90 miles to obtain their "fuel."

Air Emissions Data for three of the Fibrowatt poultry waste incinerators in the UK (Eye, Glanford and Thetford plants) can be found compiled here: Excel format / PDF format for select pollutants. This data was supplied by the Fibrowatt plants to the UK environmental agency.

Poultry waste incinerators targeting your community? Contact us for help: Energy Justice Network Mike Ewall 215-743-4884 catalyst@actionpa.org

Fibrowatt can be stopped!:

• In August 2010, after a six-week citizen uprising against Fibrowatt in and around Hart County, Georgia (and in nearby South Carolina), public officials started to come out against Fibrowatt and, once Fibrowatt's attempt to secure a power purchase agreement fell through, they abandoned their attempt to locate in the area.
• In March/April 2010, the Commissioners of Surry County, North Carolina, the Elkin Chamber of Commerce, the Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Yadkin Valley Tourism Authority came out opposed to Fibrowatt's proposed incinerator in their community. The County Commissioners withdrew their millions of dollars of financial support for Fibrowatt. The Yadkin Valley Chamber wrote "The chamber is a pro-business organization, but we do not support any business that would have a negative impact on tourism, our citizens or the environment." On May 16th, 2010, Surry County Commissioners voted unanimously to stop negotiations with Fibrowatt and pursue other businesses for the Elkin site, putting an end to the four-year battle to stop Fibrowatt in the Wilkes and Surry County area.
• In March 2010, Fibrowatt was kicked out of Page County, Virginia, only a month after a furious public learned that Fibrowatt was meeting with their public officials, when county officials wrote the company to say they're no longer interested. See more at the Page County Citizens website.
• In 2005, after years of opposition, the Fibroned project in the Netherlands was stopped when the project's permit was rejected for the second time.
• In 2002, opposition to Fibrowatt's proposed "Fibromiss" incinerator in Magee, MS caused the company to leave town and try locating elsewhere in the county (Mendenhall, MS), where they have been opposed by local residents.
• Green Delaware, a grassroots environmental group in Delaware state has led the effort to ban incineration statewide in 2000, forcing Fibrowatt and other poultry waste incinerator promoters to move their plans outside of the state.
• Carl Strickler, a key player in Fibrowatt's U.S. operation (and Vice-President of the Fibrominn project) was defeated in 1998 when his previous company (Reading Energy) was kicked out of Morrisville, Pennsylvania - a small community outside of Philadelphia - when they tried to build a wood waste incinerator there in 1997.

Corporation	Facility Name	City/County	State	Country	Megawatts	Capacity/Fuel (tpy = tons/year)
Existing
EPR/Fibrowatt	Fibropower	Eye	Suffolk	UK	12.7	150,000 tpy poultry litter; See emissions data
EPR/Fibrowatt	Fibrogen - Glanford Power Station	Flixborough	North Lincolnshire	UK	13.5	Chicken Litter & Meat/Bone Meal; See emissions data
EPR/Fibrowatt	FibroThetford	Thetford	Norfolk	UK	38.5	450,000 tpy chicken litter / other biomass; See emissions data
Energy Power Resources Ltd.	Westfield Power Station	Cardenden, Fife	Scotland	UK	10	110,000 tpy chicken litter; See emissions data
PowerMinn 9090, LLC (owner) Fibrominn, LLC (operator)	FibroMinn	Benson (Swift County)	Minnesota	USA	50	Went online June 2007 500,000 tpy turkey litter plus 100-200,000 tpy alfalfa; See Fibrominn permits here (scroll down to Fibrominn); See initial stack tests: 7/4/2007 and 7/6/2007. Pictures available here.
Defeated Proposals
Fibrowatt	FibroGeorgia	Hart or Banks County	Georgia	USA		Opposition group: Stop Fibrowatt in Northeast Georgia For articles, see FibroGeorgia facility profile.
Fibrowatt	FibroHills	Elkin, Surry County (initially targeted Wilkesboro, Wilkes County)	North Carolina	USA		After a four year fight against Fibrowatt's proposal to build in Wilkes or Surry Counties, growing opposition from area residents, including the medical community, resulted in the the withdrawal of financial support from Surry County.
Enginuity Energy LLC		Steelton (Dauphin County)	Pennsylvania	USA	10	Plan to burn poultry litter to power the ArcelorMittal Steelton steel mill near public housing was fought by NAACP and defeated in 2010. For articles, see Enginuity Energy facility profile.
Fibrowatt		Page County	Virginia	USA		Page County Citizens stopped Fibrowatt after a one month campaign in February/March 2010, resulting in Page County Commissioners informing Fibrowatt that they were no longer welcome.
Monopower Ltd.	Killycarran Biomass Combined Heat and Power Plant	Monaghan, Emyvale		Ireland	20	In July 2009, the proposal to site a chicken litter and mushroom compost incinerator at Emyvale, Monaghan in Ireland has been rejected by Monaghan County Council and by The Irish Planning Appeals Board (An Bord Pleanala). Background info on the project available in: Evaluation of Environmental Impact Assessment (5/26/2005).
EPR/Fibrowatt & Bio-One	Fibroned	Apeldoorn		The Netherlands	30	385,000 tpy poultry litter
Blair Fox Generation		Muchea (Shire of Chittering)	Western Australia	Australia	approx. 11	108,000 tpy poultry litter; opposition website archived here
Proposed
Fibrowatt	FibroAndes	Patagua Cerro community	Pichidegua town VI Region (State)	Chile	35	300,000 tons/year; Opposition group: Comite en defensa del medio ambiente de Pichidegua
Darwalla Group		Mt Cotton (near Brisbane in Redland Shire)	Queensland	Australia	5	60,000 tons per year
ContourGlobal	Presidente Castelo Branco		Santa Catarina	Brazil	30
ContourGlobal	Arabutã		Santa Catarina	Brazil	30
ContourGlobal			Santa Catarina	Brazil	60	The company plans a total of 120 MW of capacity, so there may be two other proposals in addition to the other Brazilian proposals mentioned above.
Joseph Mitchells (Letham) Ltd.		Letham		Scotland		13,000 tons/year of poultry slaughtering byproducts to be burned in pyrolysis/gasification-style incinerator. Permits granted in 2007.
Rose Energy		near Glenavy, Antrim County		Northern Ireland	30	250,000 tons/year of chicken litter (and bone meal residue) to be burned in fluidized bed combustor; Opposition group website: Rose Tinted Energy
Energy Power Resources Ltd.	DEPR Netherlands	Moerdijk		The Netherlands	30	358,000 tonnes / yr chicken litter and 20,000 tonnes / yr feathers
Energy Power Resources Ltd.	Corby Mixed Biofuel Plant	Corby	Northamptonshire	UK	36	34,000 tonnes / yr chicken litter & 168,000 tonnes / yr waste straw
Fibrowatt	FibroCoast	Sampson	North Carolina	USA
Fibrowatt	FibroMont	Montgomery	North Carolina	USA
Earth Resources Inc.	Plant Carl	near Carnesville (Franklin County)	Georgia	USA	20	Initially was to go online mid-2007, but in mid-2010, they still haven't started construction. Using fluidized bed boiler. Original plan to burn poultry litter has changed to include trash or "biomass." See Plant Carl facility profile for articles, reports and permit documents.
Fibrowatt		Shenandoah County	Virginia	USA
Fibrowatt	FibroShore	Eastern Shore, MD (Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset, or Worcester Counties)	Maryland	USA	38.5	200-300,000 tpy chicken litter plus 100,000 tpy of forestry residues
Fibrowatt	FibroMiss	Mendenhall (Simpson County)	Mississippi	USA	40	200-300,000 tpy chicken litter plus 100-200,000 tpy forest residue / crop waste
Fibrowatt			Arkansas	USA
LandStudies, Inc. & Five Winds International		Duncannon Borough, Perry County	Pennsylvania	USA	10	2007 Article about these consultants scoping out poultry waste incinerator possibility. Fibrowatt's technology being considered.
Allen's Hatchery & JCR Enterprises		Linkwood (Dorchester County)	Maryland	USA		12,000 tpy poultry litter; burner to be built by rem Engineering
West Michigan Co-Gen		Ottawa County	Michigan	USA	4.3	65,000 tpy turkey litter & other animal wastes (cattle and chickens)
Barlow Projects	Willmar Biomass Power Plant	Willmar (Kandiyohi County)	Minnesota	USA	18-21	266-300 tpd turkey litter
Sites Being Considered
Fibrowatt				Belgium
Fibrowatt				France
Fibrowatt				Germany
Fibrowatt				Italy
Fibrowatt				Japan
Fibrowatt				Portugal
Fibrowatt				Spain
Fibrowatt			Alabama	USA
Fibrowatt			Texas	USA
Fibrowatt			Wisconsin	USA
Fibrowatt			Iowa	USA
Fibrowatt			Oklahoma	USA

http://www.energyjustice.net/fibrowatch/