Biomass power as a firm utility resource: Bigger not necessarily better or cheaper

Abstract

A rush to biomass power is underway in the U.S. with both public and consumer owned utilities proposing their first biomass power facilities. The average size of facility proposed is rising rapidly, supposedly to capture economies of scale. Unique to biomass, ever larger plants may not yield lower busbar costs. In many locales, a combination of fuel constraints, capped incentive programs, loss of local options and availability of combined heat and power (CHP) options lead to the optimization of the facility at a much smaller size. In the Oregon example included a 10 MWe CHP plant yields a substantially lower busbar cost than a 100 MWe stand alone plant.