Opportunities for Biomass – Power and Heat (1 of 3)
Biomass power technologies include direct firing, cofiring, gasification, anaerobic digestion and other technologies. Although many current biomass power plants are small, industrial cogeneration or heating applications, utility-scale plants with capacities in excess of 80 megawatts have been commissioned. In the United States, biomass power plants currently represent 11,000 megawatts of capacity, the second largest amount of renewable energy in the nation. Michigan has a number of wood fired electric generating facilties, some operating for more than 20 years. In addition it has two major waste to energy projects fired with municipal solid waste.
Interest in biomass power is on the rise. Although the primary driver to consider biomass power has been its potential to lower heating and power production costs, the anticipation of global carbon markets and renewable power mandates is spurring a new wave of investment in this sector. Perhaps most critical to this new interest is that these facilities can generate electricity at any time (24/7), unlike some of the current most popular renewable sources of energy.
In addition biofuels plants are becoming true biorefineries, incorporating the production of fuels, chemicals and power at a single location.
