NC Plant Turns Poultry Waste Into Electricity

Duke Energy and other utilities are investing in more home-grown energy sources. This new addition will come from poultry waste.

The country's largest electric company and a consortium of other utilities are securing what's called poultry waste renewable energy certificates, or RECs, from a $32 million plant in Pitt county.

The Carolina Poultry Power facility opened recently in Farmville. It collects poultry litter from dozens of nearby farms. The waste is dried to create a boiler fuel, which then creates steam and electricity.

Plant officials say the project will help create jobs and divert pollution from waterways.

Duke Energy says it will satisfy poultry waste-to-energy mandates under state law know as the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (“REPS”).

“Duke Energy supports the innovative way biomass can complement the other resources in our energy mix,” said Stephen De May, Duke Energy's North Carolina president. “Using poultry waste to generate electricity diversifies our energy portfolio and supports the important agriculture industry in North Carolina.”

In 2018, 300,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of the total electric power sold to retail electric customers in North Carolina was supplied by poultry waste.

Additional utilities supporting the project through REC purchases are the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, EnergyUnited, Virginia Electric and Power Company (Dominion North Carolina), and the Fayetteville Public Works Commission.

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