Harvest Power Wins American Biogas Council Award

ORLANDO, Fla., April 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Harvest Power, a leader in organics management solutions, has been recognized by the American Biogas Council with their inaugural Biogas Project of the Year Award for its newly opened Energy Garden in Central Florida. The first-of-a-kind project converts organic waste into renewable biogas and natural fertilizers, diverting hundreds of thousands of tons of waste from Central Florida landfills. The facility is the only one in the region that serves the large tourism and hospitality industry with organics recycling.

The Project of the Year Awards, announced earlier this week at the BioCycle REFOR14 West Conference, recognize projects that make significant contributions to the biogas industry. The Council's Awards Committee selected the Harvest Energy Garden because it excelled in all criteria, particularly innovation, technology, collaboration and complexity.

"We're honored that the American Biogas Council selected Harvest for this distinction, particularly when considering the exponential growth of this industry in recent years. It's an exciting time to be innovating in this space," said Harvest Power CEO, Kathleen Ligocki.

Located within the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), the Energy Garden uses anaerobic digestion – a biological process that relies on naturally occurring bacteria – to produce renewable biogas. When operating at full capacity, the facility will process 130,000 tons of organic materials annually and produce 5.4 megawatts of combined heat and power.

"This facility signals a paradigm shift for the region's hospitality industry as hotels and restaurants are now able to differentiate themselves to customers through environmentally sound waste recycling practices," said Chris Peters, regional vice president of Harvest Power in Florida. "We're excited to see organics recycling and clean energy take off in this region."

Harvest Power is working with several partners in Central Florida, including the JW Marriott, Waldorf Astoria, Walt Disney World Resort, Republic Services, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, FreshPoint Central Florida, as well as the area's leading family attractions.

About Harvest Power
Harvest creates a more sustainable future by helping communities better manage and beneficially re-use their organic waste through the production of renewable energy, soils, mulches and natural fertilizers. Harvest's vision is to find the highest and best use for the 500 million tons of organic material produced in North America each year. The company operates organics management facilities in the East and West Coasts of the U.S., and in Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. Harvest has grown rapidly since its founding in 2008 and has garnered awards for its business of recycling, energy generation and soil revitalization. The company has been named to the Global Cleantech 100 four years in a row, received Bloomberg's 2013 New Energy Pioneer Award and was named in Fast Company's 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World in 2014.

SOURCE Harvest Power