Completing a successful feasibility study for an anaerobic digestion project

Abstract

Today, anaerobic digesters require significant up-front expenditures. As the cost and complexity of anaerobic digesters has grown, so has the demand for analysis of the technical systems and the financial costs and benefits. Though a feasibility study for a large anaerobic digestion project is often completed by an outside consultant, there are many other stakeholders, including farmers, project developers, support professionals, and others, who need to be able to evaluate its quality—whether in selecting a consultant to complete a feasibility study, or in understanding and using the output from a feasibility study. This fact sheet looks at different aspects of feasibility studies—including outlines, guidance, cautions, and recommendations—with an eye toward improving the preparation, evaluation, and use of feasibility studies in the development of successful anaerobic digestion projects. Because there are many existing resources that discuss general feasibility studies, this publication focuses on the areas of feasibility studies that tend to be common for livestock-based anaerobic digestion projects.