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Farm News: Biomass Project Gets A Lot Of Interest

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Posted: 05.25.2010

Governor Jim Doyle has announced that 59 Wisconsin businesses responded to a Request for Information to supply biomass fuel for the Charter Street Heating Plant.

“The message is clear, we have biomass businesses right here in our own state that want to grow,” Governor Doyle said.  “This is an enormous economic opportunity for our state to keep the money we spend on energy in the local economy and create green jobs in the area.”  

Doyle announced that the Charter Street Heating Plant would switch from burning coal to burning a mixture of biomass, like wood waste and agricultural residues, and natural gas. Charter Street Heating Plant will stop burning coal by fall of 2011.  Plus, as of March 1, 2010, coal is no longer burned at the Capitol Heat and Power Plant. Because of these steps, the state is on track to reduce the use of coal at state heating plants by 65 percent, dramatically improving the environmental footprint of state-owned facilities.
 
A new biomass boiler at Charter Street would be capable of burning up to 100 percent biomass – everything from wood chips to switchgrass pellets.  The increased demand for biomass will help create and sustain a biomass market in Wisconsin and provide economic benefits for landowners, farmers and processors in the state.
 
The state conducted a Request for Information (RFI) to understand the potential suppliers of biomass for fuel.  The results showed:
  • Respondents were biomass producers, aggregators, equipment processors and businesses.
  • Biomass can supply the power plant with more than 3.4 million tons/year of product.  The plant requirements are estimated at 250,000 tons of biomass per year.
  • A wide range of business sizes ranging from 1000 – 590,000 tons applied. 
  • Of all the respondents, 50% of the respondents were from the forest products industry, 25% from agriculture and 25% from waste materials. 
  • The majority of forest product resources would come from northern Wisconsin and agricultural products would come from central and southwestern Wisconsin.
  • Prices ranged from $2-11/MMBTU.
  • Approximately half of the aggregators had access to rail or could develop rail access.
 
Results from the RFI will help guide the next procurement step, a Request for Proposal, which is expected to be announced in August.

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