Biomass Power Announcements - May 2013

Several biomass electricity project announcements have been made recently. Here are the details:

• Rollcast Energy’s 53.5-MW Piedmont Green Power biomass power plant began operating in April. The Barnesville, Georgia facility will consume 500,000 tons of woody biomass annually. Rollcast has sold the plant’s output to Georgia Power under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
• Wisconsin Energy subsidiary We Energies announced it will begin operating its 50-MW biomass power plant in late 2013. The plant is on the site of Domtar’s pulp and paper mill in Rothschild, Wisconsin. It will consume 300,000-500,000 tons of logging slash and mill residues annually.
• The on-again, off-again conversion of Georgia Power’s Plant Mitchell in Dougherty County, Georgia into a biomass power plant appears to be on again. Craig Barrs, Georgia Power’s executive vice president for external affairs, has said that the company would like to retrofit the plant to burn wood, but that it is waiting on new rules from the EPA before making a final decision. If given the go-ahead, the plant will be the largest of its kind in the U.S. The conversion, which was originally scheduled to be completed this July, is now expected to be completed in 2017.
• Greenleaf Power restarted its 28-MW biomass power plant in Scotia, California. The plant has been offline since November.
• Kentucky Power Company has asked the Kentucky Public Service Commission for approval to enter into a renewable energy purchase agreement (REPA) with ecoPower Generation-Hazard LLC. The REPA would be for a 20-year period to purchase up to approximately 58 MW of electricity from a biomass power generating facility ecoPower plans to construct in Perry County. If approval is granted, the plant could be operational in 2017. The facility will consume biomass materials including sawdust, bark, wood chips, tip wood and low-quality logs.