Is Biomass Power the Solution to Georgia’s Renewable Energy Needs?
[Creative Commons photo by James Emery]
More and more utility companies in Georgia are turning to biomass calling it a clean, renewable resource. Oglethorpe Power Corporation in Tucker, GA is planning three 100 megawatt biomass-fueled power plants. Back in April, Georgia Power sought approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission to convert a coal-fueled power plant to biomass. Utilities are touting biomass power as a renewable, environmentally friendly alternative to coal.
Biomass is sort of a catch-all term for biological material that can be used as fuel or for industrial production. The term often refers to plant matter grown to generate electricity or produce biofuel, but it also includes plant or animal matter used for production of fibers, chemicals, or heat. Georgia’s utility companies are interested in biomass as a renewable alternative to coal.
Biomass Benefits
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), biomass has a number of benefits. The first, and most obvious, is a reduced dependence on fossil fuels. If companies use sustainable sources for the plant matter required to produce biomass power, the ecological impact is far less than its petroleum-based counterparts. Many biomass plants use the byproducts from paper and lumber production. Rather than allowing things like sawdust and wood chips head straight to the waste stream, biomass plants convert these materials into energy.
The NREL page also mentions that “the use of biomass energy has the potential to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” However, this last benefit can vary hugely between power plants.
The Ifs
Burning organic matter for fuel produces greenhouse gases - nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide - and particulates. The amount and types of emissions depend upon what sort of matter the plant uses and on how it operates. If the trees burned to produce biofuel are replaced with new plantings in a closed growing cycle, these new trees recycle the carbon into the new growth.
Sourcing is another variable when it comes to producing biomass power. If a company uses byproducts from manufacturing, such as pulp from paper mills or sawdust from the lumber industry, they actually help divert waste that would have probably ended up in landfills. In this case, the process helps prevent the organic matter from producing methane, another greenhouse gas. However, companies harvesting new timber and growing agricultural products for fuel use up vast amounts of energy for collection, transportation, processing, and storage.
The Bottom Line
Biomass Power’s ecological impacts seem a bit variable. Unfortunately, Georgia Power’s page on renewable energy investments does not give many specifics on how they’re handling things like sustainable harvesting. Oglethorpe Power does a bit better, giving details on current and future plans to reduce their plants’ carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions. Their press release about the new biomass plants also outlines the wood’s sources, such as wood residue from manufacturing. So is biomass really a green energy source? I think it can be, if the companies producing the power are transparent in their processes. What do you think?
My concerns with biomass plants would all be supply side — what techniques are they using to raise the biomass and how that affects the environment.
As we research and develop more efficient processes for biomass power generation it is truly a viable alternative. What type of market penetration it can acheive is the all based on the factors you mention. Great information! Thanks!