Located in Albertville, Savoie, and commissioned in October 2015, the cheese-based power facility is designed to generate electricity required to power a community of 1,500 inhabitants.
Power generated from the plant will be sold to energy company EDF.
The facility comprises a tank in which skimmed whey is placed to convert it into biogas, which is a mixture of methane and CO2.
The whey, which is a greenish colored liquid made of sugar and minerals salts, is transformed into biogas by the bacterias through fermentation process.
The resulting biogas is then fed through a machine designed to heat water to 90 degrees celsius and also generate electricity.
Capable of producing about 3,000,000 KWh a year, the facility is expected to optimize the Beaufort cheese production with the least possible waste.
The Telegraph cited Valbio official François Decker as saying: "It’s quite simply the same as the ingredient in natural yoghurt."
The firm is also planning to build the cheese-based power plants in Australia, Italy, Brazil and Uruguay.
Over the last 10 years, Valbio built small-scale plants in France and Canada. The cheese-based power station, however, is said to be one of the largest of its kind.
