Local Texas dairy farms are supplying Huckabay Ridge—the nation's largest manure-to-natural-gas plant— with truckloads of cow manure, as the facility aims to convert enough manure into methane and eventually natural gas, to power nearly 11,000 homes.

The process is relatively involved, taking the substance through a production process that uses 10 manure truckloads per day. The average dairy cow produces more than 15 gallons of manure per day. 900,000 gallon tanks digest the waste for weeks to generate methane, which is then sent through the purification process to be distributed through a gas pipeline.

California utility Pacific Gas and Electric is expected to begin purchasing natural gas from Huckabay Ridge next year, with more companies expected to follow suit as the agricultural industry looks for additional ways to produce natural fuel resources.