Promoting Green Power in Canada - Centre for Human Settlements

Promoting Green Power in Canada Pollution Probeshould make many of the larger projectseconomically feasible [NRCan 2002d].Biomass energy: Three main sources ofbiomass can be used for electricityproduction: energy crops (especiallyswitchgrass), agricultural waste and woodresidues. All of these fuels could be importantfor Canada’s energy portfolio. In the absenceof official estimates of electricity generationpotentials from biomass, an estimate hasbeen made for this study based on theassumptions outlined in Appendix C. Theresult of these calculations is that 1.5% ofCanada’s annual electricity demand could becovered by energy crops, 0.6% from currentlyunused wood residues (this potential mayhave decreased since the available woodresidue potentials were assessed in 1999),and 5.3% (32 TWh, based on Appendix C)from agricultural waste. 40 These figuresrepresent a generation capacity of more than1,502 MW for forest residues and energycrops, and 3,672 MW for agricultural waste,in addition to existing capacities. In 1999,the Canadian pulp and paper industry,together with independent power producers,produced important amounts of electricityfrom wood wastes and spent pulping liquor,much of which was used internally byindustry [NRCan 2002e, p. 7]. Thegeneration capacity of the pulp and paperindustry amounts to 1,500 MW, that ofindependent power producers to 128 MW,and the electricity production of this sectorwas reported as 6,393 GWh 41 for 1999 [ibid.,p. 13]. There is also some potential forelectricity production from municipal waste,with a potential doubling of currentelectricity production from municipal wasteincineration (747 GWh/a) [p. 16]. Table4.20 provides an overview of the assessmentin Appendix C.Landfill gas: Canadian electricity productionfrom landfill gas (currently implemented at8 sites) is 85.3 MW. This number could bedoubled within the next five years if producerscould obtain a price of 6–7¢/kWh, as mostlarger landfills already have gas capturingsystems installed, but many still flare the gasinstead of producing electricity or processheat. Smaller landfills would only becomeeconomical with higher per-kWh prices (upto 12¢/kWh) [EC 2002a]. Emissions fromthe 10,000 Canadian landfills have beenestimated to be 25 Mt of CO 2equivalent,about 25% of which is either flared or usedfor electricity production. The total (but noteconomically feasible) potential can thus beestimated to be four times current use, oreight times the electricity generating capacity,given that only about half the landfill gascurrently captured is used for electricityproduction [EC 2002a].Table 4.20 — Potential Electricity Production from Biomass in Canada, in GWh(based on [CFS 1999] and Appendix C)Province BC AB SK MB ON QC Atlantic CanadaProv.Forest Residues 1,470 630 35 14 350 1,190 210 3,890Switchgrass* - 960 960 3,090 3,090 960 210 9,270Agricultural waste 202 8,545 12,087 4,312 4,044 2,733 245 32,168TOTAL 1,672 10,135 13,082 7,416 7,484 4,883 665 45,328* Roughly one third of the total potential for ON and MB each, and another third shared between the otherProvinces117