Dutch agriculture minister just announced a groundbreaking development as she unveiled the world’s largest biomass power plant to run exclusively on poultry manure. The plant will convert a third of the nation’s chicken waste into energy while running at a capacity of 36.5 megawatts - enough to power 90,000 homes.

The plant’s dual objective is to provide an alternative source of energy, while tackling the serious high environmental impact problem of an excess chicken droppings. Previously, over 800,000 tons of Dutch poultry poop had to be processed abroad at a high cost. Now, the remaining ashes of the manure will be sold as a fertilizer rich in phosphorus and kalium.

The €150 million project is owned and operated by multi-utility company Delta, cooperative DET, ZLTO and Austrian Energy & Environment A.G. (a consortium including Siemens Nederland N.V.). The biomass power plant will utilize approximately 440,000 tons of chicken manure. Many European countries suffer under an excess of different types of animal manure that pollute the environment. Costly methods are used to avoid it being spread out over land, to process it or to avoid creating the excess in the first place. Using the manure as a carbon-neutral energy source has become the most efficient, environmentally-friendly, and cost-effective of all management options.

These partners, alongside regional and national government in the Netherlands, are now looking into building similar biomass power plants to deal with other excess streams of manure.