BMW announced today that it will expand its collaboration with dairy farms as part of its renewable energy project. Working with California Bioenergy (CalBio), the automaker works with dairy farms to generate electricity that can be used to power electric vehicles.
The brand will work with Bar 20 Dairy on a new, next-generation climate-smart dairy technology that captures methane from manure, which it then turns into electricity. It also helps reduce methane emissions, which are another major source of greenhouse gases. When combined with the energy generated it results in emissions reductions equivalent to powering over 17,000 EVs per year.
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The Bar 20 Dairy farm is unique, though, in that its fuel cell technology creates renewable electricity on-site. The highly efficient system creates twice as much electricity as conventional generators while using the same amount of biogas. And because it not only captures energy that would otherwise go to waste but would actually be harmful to the environment, it’s considered one of the cleanest sources of energy in the state.
“We hope to expand this forward-thinking model in the future, bringing more biodigester investment to farms throughout the U.S. and continuing to provide clean energy to EV drivers,” said Adam Langton, energy services manager, connected eMobility, BMW of North America.
Along with the environmental benefits, the project is another source of income for farmers and allows BMW to generate environmental credits.
“In bringing together the best technology from Silicon Valley with the best technology from the Central Valley, we’re really doing something special for California,” said N. Ross Buckenham, CEO of CalBio. “This ultra-clean, biogas-fueled, on-dairy, self-generation power system scales from small to large dairies. We’re excited to now be able to demonstrate a large-scale system capable of generating one-megawatt baseload 24 x 7 that provides grid resiliency, and greatly improves local air quality while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
