LS Power to Burn Biomass at Coal Plant
By Pat Kinney, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Feb. 17–WATERLOO — LS Power announced Friday a plan to burn biomass fuels in its proposed Waterloo power plant.
Project manager Mark Milburn said the company will incorporate the plan into its state permit applications as it seeks approval for the $1.3 billion, 750-megawatt generating facility in northeast Waterloo. The company is applying for state approvals this year and would build the plant over about four years.
“We’ve been looking at ways we can incorporate greenhouse gas reduction into our plant,” Milburn said. “With the addition of biomass fuels we can burn less coal and burn the biomass to supplement a certain percentage of it, and with it, we can get lower emissions and reductions in greenhouse gases.”
The exact kind and source of the fuels have yet to be determined. “We’ve identified several sources that work,” he said. “What we want to do is further economic analysis,” possibly using local suppliers to reduce LS Power’s cost and also benefit farmers or other potential local suppliers.
Potential fuel sources, Milburn said, include switchgrass, cornstalks and waste products from ethanol plants.
“We’re committed to building a facility which not only meets federal and state standards to ensure the plant is safe for human health and the environment but which exceeds those requirements using technology that is commercially viable,” said Milburn.
Tests at other power generation facilities, such as those conducted by the Chariton Valley Biomass Project in conjunction with the Ottumwa Generating Station in Iowa, have reportedly shown measurable environmental benefits and cost-effective economics using locally grown switchgrass as a supplemental fuel source with coal.
The economics of stand-alone biomass-fueled power generation projects are typically not favorable due to size constraints related to availability of local supply and transportation costs, LS Power officials said, but co-firing of biomass in a large-scale power generation facility is an economical way to take advantage of local supplies and produce “green energy.”
More information may be obtained by visiting www.ElkRunEnergy.com or contacting Alyssa Becthold at (319) 234-7055. For more information on LS Power and Polaria, visit www.lspower.com.
Contact Pat Kinney at (319) or pat.kinney@wcfcourier.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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