$35 million for Sonoma chicken-poop power plant

Count the state's Municipal Finance Authority among those who believe there is power in chicken poop.

The agency approved $35 million in low-interest bond financing for private company's plan to use chicken waste to power an energy generation project south of the city of Sonoma.

Waste from local egg farms would be used to generate methane gas and power a 1.4 megawatt fuel cell. The electricity would be sold to the Sonoma County Water Agency, accounting for about a third of the agency's normal usage.

The agency has the goal of being 100 percent carbon-neutral by 2015.

The chicken waste will be processed adjacent to the water agency's treatment plant on 8th Street East or on an adjacent property recently purchased by the agency.

OHR BioStar, a partnership between OHR Energy in Los Angeles County and a locally-based subsidiary of the Kansas City firm BioStar Systems, is the company leading the project.