A private company's plan to use chicken waste to power an energy generation project south of the city of Sonoma cleared a preliminary hurdle Thursday.
In a 10-minute special meeting, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors gave its consent to financing the project through $35 million in state-issued bonds.
OHR Biostar, the company behind the project would be responsible for repaying the loan, which would use federal stimulus money.
Supervisors and county officials stressed that the vote was no guarantee of the project's approval down the road. The state's Municipal Finance Authority must still sign off the bonds and the project must undergo environmental review.
But they said an additional renewable energy source could hold down electricity costs for the county and reduce greenhouse gases.
"This is a beneficial project," said Supervisor Paul Kelley.
The company — a partnership between OHR Energy in Los Angeles County and a locally-based subsidiary of the Kansas City firm BioStar Systems — has been in talks with the county for more than a year on its proposal.
The project is slated for the Sonoma County Water Agency's treatment plant on 8th Street East or an adjacent property recently purchased by the agency.
The company would use waste from local egg farms to feed a manure digester that would generate methane gas and power a 1.4 megawatt fuel cell.
The electricity, which the company plans to sell to the water agency, would account for about a third of the agency's normal usage and help move it toward a 2015 goal of being 100 percent carbon-neutral.
The company would sell gas to PG&E and leftover waste as fertilizer.
Currently waste from local egg farms, totalling about 5,000 tons annually, is trucked to Oakland where it is used to generate power for the East Bay Municipal Utility District.
The shorter truck trips are expected to cut vehicle emissions by 40,000 metric tons per year, OHR Biostar officials said.
Supervisors gave their consent in a 3-0 vote. Chairwoman Valerie Brown and Supervisor Efren Carrillo were absent.
The meeting was held to meet a state deadline before the Board of Supervisors next meeting Sept. 14.
Beyond the upcoming environmental studies and still-unscheduled public hearings on the project, county officials said the earliest date for beginning construction would be next spring.
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