Geopower acquires interest in biogas project

Geopower Energy, an alternative energy developer, has closed a private debt facility of $5 million (€3.6 million) to acquire a joint venture interest in the Blue Mountain biogas project located in the US state of Utah.

The note was subscribed by accredited private investors. Geopower used a portion of the capital to acquire the interest in the project and will use the remainder of the funds as working capital for new project development.

The Blue Mountain project captures methane from swine waste at Murphy-Brown, Circle Four Farm. Murphy-Brown is the livestock production subsidiary of Smithfield Foods.
The methane released from the swine waste is cleaned, conditioned and burned to generate electricity. The electricity is then sold on the grid under a long-term, fixed rate off-take agreement to a Utah municipality. The carbon credits and renewable energy certificates are also sold under long-term, fixed rate agreements. The current capacity allows the project to generate 3.2MW of renewable energy – enough to power 3,000 homes.

Geopower says it intends to offer up to $8 million of company equity this year to accelerate the development of other renewable and alternative energy projects. It is currently developing other projects in waste heat recovery and biomass, among others.