Cleveland-Cliffs to build biomass fuel plant near Orr
Peter Passi Duluth News TribunePublished Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. plans to build a plant near Orr that produces biomass fuel for its taconite operations.
The project, announced at a press conference this morning at the Orr City Hall, is expected to directly create jobs for about 25 people, with an annual payroll of more than $1 million. It also would provide additional work and revenue for loggers, suppliers, vendors and farmers in the area.
The proposed $15 million, 100,000-square-foot facility would be located four miles north of Orr in the small town of Cusson (pronounced cousin).
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Peter Passi ArchiveThe plant would be part of a Cleveland-Cliff’s subsidiary called Renewafuel, a company that expects to be producing 2.5 million tons of biofuel within five years. Renewafuel already has a 500,000-ton-per-year plant in Battle Creek, Mich., and has plans for another production center in Marquette, Mich.
The Cusson plant hinges on final approval by Renewafuel’s board of directors. Cleveland-Cliff’s indicated it will seek loans and grants from the Iron Range Resources Board and the Minnesota Department of Economic Development in support of the project.
Before the company can proceed, however, it will need to obtain permits and approvals from the state.
Nevertheless, Cleveland-Cliffs projects the Cusson facility should be ready to begin production by the fourth quarter of 2009.
Renewafuel produces a cubed fuel about the size of a charcoal briquette. In terms of energy content, the fuel is similar to coal from the western United States, but Renewafuel cubes produce 90 percent less sulfur dioxide, 35 percent less particulate matter, 50 percent less mercury and produce 30 percent less acid gas than coal.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
City of Austin Texas to buy Biomass Power
As Biomass Power Rises, a Wood-Fired Plant Is Planned in Texas
new_york_times:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/business/29biomass.html
By KATE GALBRAITH
Published: August 28, 2008
The city of Austin, Tex., approved plans on Thursday for a huge plant that will burn waste wood to make electricity, the latest sign of rising interest in a long-dormant form of renewable energy.
When completed in 2012, the East Texas plant will be able to generate 100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 75,000 homes. That is small by the standards of coal-fired power plants, but plants fueled by wood chips, straw and the like — organic materials collectively known as biomass — have rarely achieved such scale.
Austin Energy, a city-owned utility, has struck a $2.3 billion, 20-year deal to be the sole purchaser of electricity from Nacogdoches Power, the company that will build the plant for an undisclosed sum. On Thursday, Austin’s City Council unanimously approved the deal, which would bring the Austin utility closer to its goal of getting 30 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020.
“We saw this plant as very important because it gives us a diversity of fuels,” said Roger Duncan, general manager of Austin Energy. “Unlike solar and wind, we can run this plant night or day, summer or winter.”
More than 100 biomass power plants are connected to the electrical grid in the United States, according to Bill Carlson, former chairman of USA Biomass, an industry group. Most are in California or the Northeast, but some of the new ones are under development in the South, a region with a large wood pulp industry.
The last big wave of investment in the biomass industry came during the 1980s and early 1990s. Interest is rising again as states push to include more renewable power in their mix of electricity generation.
Last week, Georgia Power asked state regulators to approve the conversion of a coal plant into a 96-megawatt biomass plant. An additional 50-megawatt plant in East Texas is expected to be under construction by September.
Mike Whiting, chief executive of Decker Energy International, a developer and owner of four biomass plants around the country, estimates 15 to 20 new biomass plants are proposed in the Southeast, though not all will be built. The region is, he said, “the best part of the U.S. for growing trees.”
In California, which has the most biomass plants in the country, momentum is reviving after years of decline. The number of biomass plants has dropped to fewer than 30, from 48 in the early 1990s, because of the closing of many sawmills and the energy crisis early this decade, said Phil Reese of the California Biomass Energy Alliance. Six to eight of the mothballed plants are gearing up to restart, Mr. Reese said, helping California meet its renewable energy goals.
At least three biomass plants have been proposed in Connecticut, and another three in Massachusetts — though last week one of these, a $200 million, 50-megawatt biomass plant proposed for the western part of the state, experienced a regulatory setback because of concerns about truck traffic.
new_york_times:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/business/29biomass.html
By KATE GALBRAITH
Published: August 28, 2008
The city of Austin, Tex., approved plans on Thursday for a huge plant that will burn waste wood to make electricity, the latest sign of rising interest in a long-dormant form of renewable energy.
When completed in 2012, the East Texas plant will be able to generate 100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 75,000 homes. That is small by the standards of coal-fired power plants, but plants fueled by wood chips, straw and the like — organic materials collectively known as biomass — have rarely achieved such scale.
Austin Energy, a city-owned utility, has struck a $2.3 billion, 20-year deal to be the sole purchaser of electricity from Nacogdoches Power, the company that will build the plant for an undisclosed sum. On Thursday, Austin’s City Council unanimously approved the deal, which would bring the Austin utility closer to its goal of getting 30 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020.
“We saw this plant as very important because it gives us a diversity of fuels,” said Roger Duncan, general manager of Austin Energy. “Unlike solar and wind, we can run this plant night or day, summer or winter.”
More than 100 biomass power plants are connected to the electrical grid in the United States, according to Bill Carlson, former chairman of USA Biomass, an industry group. Most are in California or the Northeast, but some of the new ones are under development in the South, a region with a large wood pulp industry.
The last big wave of investment in the biomass industry came during the 1980s and early 1990s. Interest is rising again as states push to include more renewable power in their mix of electricity generation.
Last week, Georgia Power asked state regulators to approve the conversion of a coal plant into a 96-megawatt biomass plant. An additional 50-megawatt plant in East Texas is expected to be under construction by September.
Mike Whiting, chief executive of Decker Energy International, a developer and owner of four biomass plants around the country, estimates 15 to 20 new biomass plants are proposed in the Southeast, though not all will be built. The region is, he said, “the best part of the U.S. for growing trees.”
In California, which has the most biomass plants in the country, momentum is reviving after years of decline. The number of biomass plants has dropped to fewer than 30, from 48 in the early 1990s, because of the closing of many sawmills and the energy crisis early this decade, said Phil Reese of the California Biomass Energy Alliance. Six to eight of the mothballed plants are gearing up to restart, Mr. Reese said, helping California meet its renewable energy goals.
At least three biomass plants have been proposed in Connecticut, and another three in Massachusetts — though last week one of these, a $200 million, 50-megawatt biomass plant proposed for the western part of the state, experienced a regulatory setback because of concerns about truck traffic.
Biomass pioneers add value to the community
On a clear day, it's possible to stand on the highest ground on Mary Jo and Luverne Forbord's Prairie Horizons farm and see the state's pioneer green energy markets in both Benson and Morris. Some 11 miles to the south in Benson, the Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company and the Fibrominn electric plant are bioenergy pioneers. The ethanol plant uses a gasifier to produce a synthetic gas. It replaces a portion of the natural gas used to fire its boilers and driers. The plant is currently using wood as the fuel for the gasifier, but will be switching to corn cobs, according to Andy Zurn, engineering manager. Eventually, Zurn said, the Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company intends to expand its use of biomass from the current 70 to 80 tons a day to 300 tons a day, and virtually end its reliance on natural gas imported from outside the region.
There is lots of farmer interest in providing corn cobs too. As a farmer-owned cooperative, Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company asked for corn cobs from 5,000 acres of land, and its members offered cobs from 20,000 acres, according to Luverne Forbord, a member of the cooperative's feedstock committee. And why not? The company is offering to hire a custom combiner to harvest the corn and pull the cob caddie that will keep the cobs as biomass. It will cost about $30 to $35 per acre to harvest the corn this way, but the corn cobs have an energy value of approximately $75 per acre, according to Zurn.
Fibrominn is combusting turkey manure mixed with wood chips to produce electricity, but could replace the wood with other types of biomass. Nearly 25 miles to the north in Morris, the tips of a large wind turbine erected on the University of Minnesota-Morris campus can be seen spinning. But it's not the wind turbine that has caught the Forbords' eyes. The University of Minnesota-Morris will soon feed biomass to a gasifier that will heat its buildings on campus, according to Joel Tallakson, who is working on the project with the West Central Research and Outreach Center.
-West Central Tribune
There is lots of farmer interest in providing corn cobs too. As a farmer-owned cooperative, Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company asked for corn cobs from 5,000 acres of land, and its members offered cobs from 20,000 acres, according to Luverne Forbord, a member of the cooperative's feedstock committee. And why not? The company is offering to hire a custom combiner to harvest the corn and pull the cob caddie that will keep the cobs as biomass. It will cost about $30 to $35 per acre to harvest the corn this way, but the corn cobs have an energy value of approximately $75 per acre, according to Zurn.
Fibrominn is combusting turkey manure mixed with wood chips to produce electricity, but could replace the wood with other types of biomass. Nearly 25 miles to the north in Morris, the tips of a large wind turbine erected on the University of Minnesota-Morris campus can be seen spinning. But it's not the wind turbine that has caught the Forbords' eyes. The University of Minnesota-Morris will soon feed biomass to a gasifier that will heat its buildings on campus, according to Joel Tallakson, who is working on the project with the West Central Research and Outreach Center.
-West Central Tribune
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