Energy Flow Management Inc., a young Spokane-based company that greatly increased its presence here in January when it acquired longtime electrical contractor Colvico Inc., plans this spring to begin using farm manure to generate electricity.


Yes, Energy Flow is getting ready to turn poop into power.


Michael Funk, Energy Flows Spokane-based president and CEO, says the company is scheduled in May to begin operating the first installation of its proprietary system at a dairy near Tillamook, Ore., that has 250 cows.


Sales of the new system, called the Enviro-Energy Bio-Waste-To-Energy System, are expected to raise revenues dramatically for Energy Flow and its parent company, publicly-traded Encino, Calif.-based Enviro-Energy Corp., which describes itself as a consolidator and operator of environmental-related companies. The companys stock is traded on the over-the-counter bulletin board.


Most of the companys growth will come from this product, Funk says. Thats where we have streamlined our focus and energies.


Thus far, Energy Flow has orders for three of the systems in all, with contract values that total $2.6 million.


Enviro-Energy has projected that Energy Flows manure-to-energy conversion system will account for $15 million in sales this year. That doesnt include revenues from operations at Colvico, which reported sales of $17 million in 2001 and is forecast to post $20 million in revenues this year.


In 2001, Enviro-Energy posted just $6.5 million in sales, with a net loss of $650,000. On Feb. 28, however, the company projected that it will have revenue of $3.4 million in the first quarter of this year, and profit of $10,000, compared with revenue of $406,000, with a loss of $166,000, in the year-earlier quarter. The company also said Feb. 28 that it has $30 million in business in hand for this year. Funk says its growth projections are based on both Colvicos sales and the projected success of the biowaste-to-energy system, which has drawn interest from dairies, pig farms, and chicken farms in both the U.S. and Europe.


While Enviro-Energy has big plans for Energy Flow, the Spokane companys operations are still small. Energy Flow currently employs only four people, and its offices are located in Colvicos building near Felts Field, in the Spokane Valley. Funk says Energy Flow plans to move its offices next month into a 2,800-square-foot office space in the Spokane Business & Industrial Park.


Energy Flow is contracting out its manufacturing to Colvico, and about six of Colvicos 75 employees are working on manufacturing Energy Flows systems, Funk says. When Enviro-Energy bought Colvico, Funk said, We needed the electrical manufacturing and service capabilities embedded in Colvico. Funk expects Energy Flow to add about 15 additional employees here by year-end.


Methane power


The system uses a biological process called anaerobic digestion to break down biosolids. Through the process, methanea gas that has some of the same properties as natural gasis collected from the manure and then is burned to power an attached turbine. While the methane is used to generate electricity, two other by-productswater and a relatively small amount of remaining biosolid, which is odorlesshave their uses as well, Funk says. The water is largely free of contaminants and could be used to irrigate crops, for example, and the biosolids could be used as fertilizer.


The positive impacts environmentally are significant, Funk says, adding that biosolid management has become a greater concern for farmers in recent years. It reaches a lot farther than the benefits of energy production.


In some cases, power production from the systems will be a revenue source for Energy Flow, Funk says. In those cases, Energy Flow will negotiate to provide one of the systems to a farm for a monthly fee, under the condition that Energy Flow can sell the power thats generated with the system.


In other instances, the company expects that it will sell one of the systems to a farm, and the farmer will decide whether to use the power in his or her own operation or sell it for use off site.


The systems will be priced starting at $350,000, but for larger farms theyre expected to be priced in the millions of dollars, Funk says.


As well as a turbine, all of the systems will include large tanks that hold the manure while the anaerobic digestion is taking place.


At the Oregon dairy where the first system will be installed, six metal tanks will be put in place on about an acre of land. Each will be 40 feet long, eight feet wide, and eight feet deep.


The Oregon dairys 250 cows produce about 5,000 gallons of manure a day, and at such a volume, a system could produce enough electricity for between 45 and 50 homes, Funk says.


Colvico, in addition to manufacturing the systems, will work as the maintenance and operations arm of Energy Flow and will provide expertise with electrical equipment, Funk says. Just as importantly, Colvico will continue to operate under its own name and to work in its conventional electrical-contractor capacities, which will provide income for Enviro-Energy. Corey Colvin, Colvicos founder, has stayed on as president of the company.


Energy Flow acquired Colvico for preferred stock in Enviro-Energy Corp. that at the time of the transaction was valued at $4 million.


Enviro-Energys common stock trades over the counter, and as of earlier this week, it sold for 13 cents a share.