by jboullion | Feb 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by the Southwest Badger RC&D Council and Better Environmental Solutions:
Richland Center–With Governor Doyle’s recent announcement of a new biomass boiler at the UW Madison Charter Street Power Plant to use 250,000 tons of biomass annually, southern Wisconsin has become a prime target for biomass production. Two other proposed plants will use a combined 800,000 tons of biomass per year in Cassville, WI and just across the border in Carroll County, Illinois. Southwest Badger Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council, Inc. is holding a biomass briefing on March 6, 2009 in Richland Center.
“Southwest Wisconsin is the Saudi Arabia of biomass such as wood, switchgrass, and corn stover. The challenge is harvesting it sustainably,” said Steve Bertjens, NRCS Coordinator for Southwest Badger RC&D Council. The briefing will provide interim reports on 3 current SW Badger projects– the Biomass Inventory and Analysis Project, Switchgrass Establishment and Harvesting Demonstrations, and the True Costs of Harvesting Woody Biomass in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin.
The SW Badger Biomass Briefing is free to the public and will be held at the Ramada White House, 1450 Veterans Drive, Richland Center, WI from 1-3:30 p.m. on Friday March 6th.
Brett Hulsey, president of Better Environmental Solutions, said, “This Biomass Briefing will answer questions like, ‘Where will a million tons of biomass per year come from?’ and ‘Is biomass production and use a sustainable renewable energy source?’.” Hulsey will also be presenting yield data collected from warm season fields currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
University of Wisconsin Extension Weed Specialist Mark Renz will present the first year results from the “Switchgrass Establishment and Harvesting Demonstrations.” This project is working to quantify achievable yields and develop best practices for growing switchgrass. Last spring the Council established 62 acres of warm season grass plantings on six farms using a variety of establishment treatments on each farm. Renz and his research students are collecting field data on the demonstrations like establishment success, yield per treatment, above and below ground production, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas flux.
by jboullion | Feb 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release posted on WQOW TV (Eau Claire):
ASHLAND, Wis. (Press Release) – Following more than a year of study and planning, Xcel Energy announced it has filed an application for a Certificate of Authority with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) to install biomass gasification technology at its Bay Front Power Plant in Ashland. When completed, the project will convert the plant’s remaining coal-fired unit to biomass gasification technology, allowing it to use 100 percent biomass in all three boilers and making it the largest biomass plant in the Midwest. Currently, two of the three operating units at Bay Front use biomass as their primary fuel to generate electricity.
The project, estimated at $58 million, will require additional biomass receiving and handling facilities at the plant, an external gasifier, minor modifications to the plant’s remaining coal-fired boiler and an enhanced air quality control system. The total generation output of the plant is not expected to change significantly as a result of the project. . . .
The Bay Front Power Plant was originally constructed and began operation in 1916. In 1960, it operated five boilers and six turbines. Since then, two of the boilers, and three of the turbines, have been retired. The three remaining boilers feed into a combined steam header system that can support three turbine-generator sets. During a major plant improvement project completed in 1991, the plant was equipped with an upgraded air quality control system, which includes two gravel bed filters designed to remove more than 98 percent of particulate matter.
Last year, Xcel Energy installed NOx (nitrogen oxide) emission control equipment on the two boilers that primarily burn wood, allowing both to continue to operate into the foreseeable future. When evaluating various alternatives for the remaining boiler, which primarily burns coal, it was determined that expanding Bay Front as a biomass resource was preferred over incurring significant environmental compliance costs relating to the Clean Air Interstate Rule and regulations on mercury emissions. . . .
When complete, the project will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by more than 60 percent, sulfur dioxides by more than 80 percent and particulate matter by more than 80 percent. In addition, displacing coal with sustainably harvested biomass will also reduce net carbon dioxide emissions, contributing to the company and state of Wisconsin’s carbon management goals.
The primary source of biomass at Bay Front is expected to be the lower quality, unused materials that are currently left in area forests following traditional harvests, such as treetops, logging slash, damaged trees, underutilized species, and the cull and mortality classed trees. Initial investigations conducted by Xcel Energy show more than ample supplies of this lower quality biomass within the area.
To ensure future biomass supplies are available on a reliable basis, Xcel Energy is working with the Wisconsin Office of Energy Independence, University of Wisconsin-Madison and local agricultural experts to explore the feasibility of developing biomass plantations and grower cooperatives.
“Xcel Energy has been a long-time leader in providing renewable energy from local sources to the citizens of Wisconsin,” said Michael Vickerman, executive director, RENEW Wisconsin. Mark Redsten, executive director, Clean Wisconsin, agreed.
by jboullion | Feb 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Craig Reberth in the Telegraph Herald (Dubuque):
CASSVILLE, Wis. — Pending a state Department of Natural Resources air-quality hearing next week and the ensuing public comment period, work should start on converting a Cassville power plant from coal to 100 percent renewable fuel.
In May, DTE Energy Services, of Ann Arbor, Mich., announced it was purchasing the E. J. Stoneman power plant. DTE said it planned to convert the coal-fired plant to burn wood waste, a renewable fuel.
The Stoneman facility was built in 1950. Integrys Energy Services bought the 53-megawatt capacity plant in 1996 from Dairyland Power Cooperative and operated it as a merchant power plant, selling power in the open market. This is DTE Energy’s initial foray into Wisconsin.
Once the air permit is issued, the project will move forward, DTE officials say. The plant probably will be pulled off-line by the end of this month, with demolition and construction to take place during the summer. The plant could be back online as early as June 2010.
Work includes converting the boilers from burning pulverized coal to a stoker technology and conversion of the material handling process. It is estimated the project will use 40 people at the peak of the effort.
by jboullion | Feb 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Charter Street heating plant on the campus of the UW-Madison will switch from coal to biomass before the end of 2010.
From an announcement from Governor Doyle:
MADISON—Governor Jim Doyle announced today that a new biomass boiler will be installed at the Charter Street Heating Plant as part of his commitment to stop burning coal at state-owned heating plants on Madison’s Isthmus.
“We must move away from our dependence on coal,” Governor Doyle said. “This new project will help build the biomass market in Wisconsin, keep the money we spend on energy in the local economy and create green jobs in the area.”
The new biomass boiler will be capable of burning up to 100% biomass, everything from wood chips to switchgrass pellets, and will eventually be able to burn about 250,000 tons of biomass per year. This demand for biomass will help create and sustain a biomass market in Wisconsin and provide economic benefit for landowners, farmers and processors in the state.
With the switch to biomass, there will be 108,800 fewer tons of coal burned in the area each year and lower particulate emissions. Reducing particulate emissions by moving away from coal at the Charter Street Heating Plant is a key step in working to improve air quality in Dane County and moving the County back into attainment.
A media release from Better Environmental Solutions highlighted the importance of biomass production to southwestern Wisconsin:
“Planting switchgrass is a great crop for our highly erodible fields,” said Jim Schaefer, a Platteville area farmer. “We want create more markets for grass and other biomass crops for energy and fuels.”
Southwest Badger RC&D has been working with farmers and researchers on six switchgrass test plots and ways to collect woody biomass to restore native prairie and switchgrass and woodlands.
“The state’s demand for biomass will help farmers promote more conservation practices and give us cleaner water and reduced flooding,” said Steve Bertjens, NRCS Southwest Badger RC&D coordinator.
by jboullion | Feb 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a story on WXOW News 19:
La Crosse, WI (WXOW)- Gundersen Lutheran is one step closer to becoming energy independent thanks to the La Crosse City Brewery.
“People in the La Crosse community have seen these flares for many years and we approached City Brewery and said this would be a unique partnership and a wonderful partnership to capture this waste methane, waste energy, going right now and just being released,” says Corey Zarecki, efficiency improvement leader at Gundersen Lutheran.
The combined heat and power project is located on the City Brewery’s Property.
Waste methane gas discharged from the Brewery’s waste treatment process is being turned into electricity. The process is expected to generate three million Kilowatt hours per year.
“We’re gonna be generating electricity and putting that to the grid as clean renewable energy source,” says Corey Zarecki.
The project is expected to generate 8 to 10 percent of the energy used at Gundersen Lutheran’s La Crosse and Onlaska facilities. That is enough electricity need to power 280 homes.
