Biomass Feasibility Project Final Report - Xcel Energy

contract requirements. In the absence of established markets, price information on wood
residues is sketchy. But the advent of new users like the Laurentian Energy Authority in Hibbing
and Virginia may improve that situation.
Our final screen eliminates hays and trees grown on CRP lands which, under current CRP
regulations, can’t be harvested. There has been an ongoing discussion of making CRP biomass
available for biomass energy, but no change in the established policy.
CATEGORIES WITH GREATEST ECONOMIC BIOMASS ENERGY
POTENTIAL
Following this process of elimination, four categories of biomass are left standing.
• hays, straws and stalks
Straws from barley, oats, and wheat, hay categorized as switchgrass/other hay, and
stalks from sunflowers, grain corn and sweet corn.
• woody residues
Logging residues (tops, limbs, lilly pads), mill wastes (bark, slabs, sawdust, off-fall), brush,
thinnings and urban tree waste.
• wet manures
Manures from dairy cows and hogs.
• dry manures.
Manures from broilers, layers and turkeys.
2,000,000
1,800,000
1,600,000
Transportation
1,400,000
Billion Btu
1,200,000
1,000,000
Industrial
800,000
600,000
Commercial
400,000
200,000
Residential
-
Minnesota's Total Energy
Consumption
Woody Residues Hays, Straws and Stalks Manures
Figure III-3: Economic Potential and Minnesota Energy Consumption
The component breakouts of each category are detailed in the following charts.
Page 34
Identifying Effective Biomass Strategies:
Quantifying Minnesota’s Resources and Evaluating Future Opportunities