Mobile Grass Pelletizer
Hudson Valley Grass Energy (HVGE), a collaborative aimed to establish a new, local renewable energy market, is now running a mobile grass pellet mill. Participating partners include: the Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Ulster, Dutchess, Orange and Rockland Counties, USDA – Lower Hudson Long Island RC &D (RC&D) , as well as local farmers and volunteers. By designing the mill to be fully mobile, HVGE can produce directly on the farm, cutting out the middleman and putting profits directly into our producers’ hands.
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HVGE has recently begun contracts with NY Farm Viability Institute and NYS Energy Resource Development Authority to research, develop and market this local and sustainable energy market in the Hudson Valley. In July, HVGE hired two employees: Libby Murphy as project manager and Toby Wetrus as mill operator. Having recently established these employees and major contracts, HVGE has been moving forward at a rapid pace. The pelleter made its homecoming to the Hudson Valley in early August and is currently undergoing additional testing in Orange County. Since then, our field team has completed various test runs and important design modifications. This process has been hugely successful thanks to the additional work of dedicated volunteers, including producers John Brown, Jim Weist, SWCD managers Kevin Sumner, Ed Hoxsie, Alan Beers, Gary Capella, along with RC &D’s Joe Heller and Margarete Wagner of Ulster SWCD.
This spring will bring HVGE’s pilot production phase; We will be operating the mobile pelleter on 13 participating farms in Dutchess, Orange and Ulster Counties, with eventual expansion into Rockland County. Also as a key component of this phase, we will be collecting and analyzing data in order to understand and improve grass pellet production and combustion. Once the pilot phase is complete, we will be launching full-scale production of our mobile grass pelleter in the Hudson Valley!
Future services offered by HVGE to all producers and users:
• On-site pre-assessment of farm
• Characterization of raw material and/or pellets
• Pelletizing by ton, on-site, includes operator
• Pre-processing of small square, large sq. and large round bales
• Bagging of pellets
• One-ton storage bags
• Smaller bags for distribution
• Local gateways for selling pellets
• Testing of pellets in combustion
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For more information…
845-883-7162 x 104