Biomass Feasibility Project Final Report - Xcel Energy

Biomass also tends to have a low energy density which means it contains less energy per volume
than traditional sources of energy. This results in an increase of overall transportation costs for
biomass resources.
Responses to High Costs
Using biomass in high-cost applications. While biomass is typically uncompetitive with coal, it
can compete with natural gas. Since natural gas is the fuel of choice for peaking plants – plants
that intermittently kick into service during periods of peak electricity needs – perhaps biomass
peaking plants could compete with biomass gasified to burn in turbines. Unlike a typical
combustion plant, a gasification/combined-cycle plant could respond quickly to the varying
demands of the grid. Once it is fully commercialized, which will be soon, biomass gasification
technology will take its place in combined-cycle power plants capable of higher efficiencies
than steam-cycle plants.
Lowering harvest, collection, storage and processing costs. Work has begun on designing a new
generation of equipment designed specifically to handle biomass more efficiently. Machinery
and strategies for harvesting, collecting and processing corn stover are in the development
phase (Atchison and Hettenhaus, 2003 and Glassner, Hettenhaus, and Schechinger, 1998).
Other harvest technologies first developed offshore now are making their way into the U.S. When
cellulosic processes, the subject of much research and discussion, comes into use commercial
use in ethanol plants, there will be a strong impetus to develop more efficient handling of
agricultural wastes to feed them. Biomass power plants too will benefit from those new
developments.
Forested areas also will see new handling technologies, many of them imported from countries
that manage their forests more intensively than we do. For some time, Sweden has used forest
residue bundlers to harvest logging residues. American firms have just begun to import and
experiment with these machines (Peterson, 2005). Some Minnesota- based research efforts have
included the use of logging slash bundlers.
Using new technologies to extract more energy from biomass. Biomass gasification technologies
have the potential to extract far more energy from a given amount of biomass fuel. We have
seen biomass gasification replace natural gas in ethanol plants, and, as suggested above,
perhaps it can do it in peaking plants as well.
Several major industries in Minnesota are interested in gasification. The pulp and paper industry
could use it to become self-sufficient in energy (Larson, et. al. 2003). Rising natural gas prices
and pressures to reduce air emissions will motivate the ethanol industry to adopt it (Sparby and
Massie, 2006 and Anfinson, 2005). Central Minnesota Ethanol Co-Op (CMEC) recently started up
to do both – eliminate purchases of natural gas and reduce air emissions. The CMEC gasifier is
among several biomass gasification systems that represent the first commercial applications of
that technology in Minnesota.
Policies to Encourage Innovation. State policies to aid the development and adoption of
emerging biomass technologies should address various stages of technology development and
adoption. In the early stages, funding of product development and research into the economic
benefits of new technologies can help to speed commercialization. Once those technologies
have become commercially established, information and financial support can reduce financial
risk to their adopters.
Identifying Effective Biomass Strategies: Page 139
Quantifying Minnesota’s Resources and Evaluating Future Opportunities