Firm breaks ground on NC plant to turn pig poop into power

This photo from Friday, July 31, 2015, provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society, shows three Juliana pigs on their debut at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Zoo in New York. Juliana pigs are the smallest breed of miniature pig. They weigh no more than 65 pounds when full grown. (Julie Larsen Maher, Wildlife Conservation Society via AP)

Posted: Dec 15, 2016 / 08:13 PM EST

Updated: Dec 15, 2016 / 08:13 PM EST

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – A Colorado company is breaking ground on a Duplin County plant that will provide Duke Energy Corp. with power from pig poop.

Carbon Cycle Energy starts construction Thursday on its $100 million plant near Warsaw designed to convert animal waste into enough methane to power thousands of homes a year. The company will sell the fuel to an unidentified company and Duke Energy, which is required by North Carolina law to generate a small amount of its power from swine waste.

The state’s 2,000 pork producers now collect liquefied waste in cesspools and spray it on planted fields.

Duke Energy already is burning methane from smaller projects, including one that draws the gas off the waste from more than 70,000 hogs on 10 adjoining farms in Duplin County.