Farmer leads the way in 'locally grown' renewable energy

Issue Date: April 1, 2009

By Christine Souza
Assistant Editor

Winters grower Russ Lester stands by his energy biomass power system that converts walnut shells into heat and power and produces 50 kilowatts of electricity.

There's been much interest in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento about making the nation more energy-independent by investing in alternative and renewable energy. Fourth-generation farmer Russ Lester represents one push in that direction, as he finds a variety of resourceful ways to fulfill his goal of becoming energy self-sufficient by 2012 at his operation in Winters.

"California has set a goal of producing 33 percent of its renewable energy by the year 2020. I want to see it happen and believe it is possible much sooner than later," Lester said. "I've been dreaming about doing this for quite some time."

While making a living farming organic walnuts at his Dixon Ridge Farms, he is also creating a better environment using walnut shells to produce renewable energy that can be used at his operation. And that is just the beginning.

In 2007, Lester worked with the manufacturer to install the BioMax 50, a small, distributed energy biomass power system that converts a range of biomass residues into heat and power and produces 50 kilowatts of electricity. In Lester's case, the generator burns walnut shells and makes what is known as producer gas, which is similar to propane. This is used to produce heat and electricity for shelling, drying, processing, freezing and packaging walnuts.

"We had the shells and I could do the math in terms of how much energy they were capable of producing and I realized that that we could do it, but it was just a matter of how," Lester said.

The biomass generator was initially used in the forestry sector by converting forestry slash at lumber mills. The first time the manufacturer had used agricultural byproducts in the generator was in 2007 when it arrived at Lester's 500-acre operation. Dixon Ridge Farms produces 2.5 million pounds of walnut shells each year from its shelling facility, and of that, 800,000 pounds is recycled on-site for energy creation. Before Lester diverted the shells to energy production, they were sold to area biomass plants. Lester's operation yields enough shells to fuel three of the generators and therefore the installation of more machines is in the works.

The generator can burn woody, cellulosic materials such as prunings, chipped brush, pistachio shells, and pits of olives, peaches and prunes. It may not work as well with almond hulls, he said, since they contain quite a bit of sugar and would not burn as easily. Almond hulls also make good feed for livestock.

"One of the advantages of this type of technology is it produces a gas that can be used in a propane engine. When it is time to dry or harvest the walnuts, we can divert this gas and use it in our walnut dryers and offset the propane that we would typically use," Lester said. "That time of year, 100 percent of the gas that is produced by the walnut shells gets shuttled over to heat the dryers."

The system also enables Lester to have great flexibility with how energy is used, which is important when growing and processing walnuts.

"This gives you the flexibility of using the heat that is a byproduct of the combustion cycle, but it also produces gas that can be used in a generator or a gas-fired heater," Lester said.

For the future, Lester is working with the manufacturer to take this a step further and produce synthetic liquid diesel from the gas. Plus he is looking into producing biodiesel from walnut oil. As another part of his energy self-sufficiency goal, Lester maintains an 18-kilowatt solar array ib 3,500 square feet of the roof of the his shelling facility. He plans to expand his solar capacity to 390 kilowatts, which will be housed on 80,000 square feet of available roof space.

Another "green" project in the works is making use of the "char ash," which is the solid byproduct that comes from running the biomass generator. Lester is working with researchers at University of California, Davis to examine the char ash and see if it would serve as a good soil amendment. Carbon sequestration, a process that researchers say reduces greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming, is another benefit of putting char ash into the soil.

Although he paid for the infrastructure and construction, the generator and its installation was funded by a grant from the California Energy Commission. Lester said he has already recouped his costs thanks to the energy savings he has received as a result of this new technology. Where it is not paying off is in the amount of time Lester is spending trying to solve bureaucratic issues such as interconnection problems with Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

"I assumed the interconnection issue was going to be relatively straightforward because we have had a solar installation since 2004 and that went really fast. The governor and everyone has said this is something we want to promote," Lester said. "I assumed that the road had been paved. Unfortunately the road is not paved, so we're actually trying to pave the road along with a lot of other folks."

Lester said he has been assured that his permit to operate from his local air quality management district is in the mail, but he says air quality requirements make it difficult for those interested in creating energy on-site.

"People are having difficulties because of the NOx (nitrogen oxide) pollutants they are putting out. San Joaquin (Valley Air Quality Management District) for example, has put such a low standard on stationary generators that really no one can meet it. If the local air district had that same standard for us, we wouldn't be operating either," Lester said. "This is an area that a lot of people have identified where something has to give."

Karen Norene Mills, California Farm Bureau Federation associate counsel and Public Utilities Department director, said Farm Bureau is working with agencies such as the California Public Utilities Commission so that incentives are established in a way that enable farmers to utilize a variety of renewable technologies. The many layers of regulatory hurdles that farmers face from various government agencies sometimes conflict with one another, making it difficult for farmers to move forward with renewable energy and other projects which have a positive impact on the environment.

"Many growers and processors in California are interested in pursuing these renewable energy projects, including the dairy sector, who face obstacles in meeting strict air quality requirements," Mills said. "Everywhere farmers and ranchers are trying to do the right thing and narrow regulations keep getting in the way."

In the meantime, Lester is moving forward with his goal of becoming 100 percent energy self-sufficient by 2012. Right now, nearly 25 percent of the energy used at Dixon Ridge Farms comes from renewable energy produced at the farm.

"Growers are very interested in this. The first thing they should do is improve the total energy efficiency of their operation," Lester said. "When it comes to this type of renewable energy, farmers can relate to this elegantly simple solution."

(Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)

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