Fremont Community Digester

Situation

The Fremont Community Digester was a state-of-the-art anaerobic bio-digester plant located in Fremont, Michigan.

The facility was designed to employ an anaerobic digestion process to convert organic waste from food processing plants into biogas, which was used to generate electricity that was then sold under contract to a large utility company. The organic material that remained following the digestion process was used as fertilizer.

Fremont Community Digester opened in 2012 to widespread praise as the first large facility in Michigan to take organic waste from food processing companies and turn it into renewable energy.

However, the plant had a high cost structure, which made operations more expensive than anticipated during the design, development, and construction. Consequently, after a brief period of operation, the facility closed in 2015.

Solution

Amherst Partners was appointed receiver by the Newaygo County Circuit Court.

Amherst worked to secure and maintain the facility and then worked to help restart the plant to fulfill its contractual obligations to its utility-company customers before focusing on the search for an ideal buyer.

Results

After contacting numerous domestic and global buyer candidates, Amherst was able to identify a buyer with a specific focus on renewable-energy businesses that possessed the financial resources necessary to invest in the renovations necessary to allow Fremont to reopen and resume operations.