|
Biomass energy helps rural communities Federal-state-NGO group facilitates projects that provide clean, efficient heating using sustainable, often local timber resource
For the past couple of years a coalition of federal agencies, state agencies and non-profit organizations has been facilitating the development of biomass systems for the heating of buildings, especially in rural Alaska. The group, called the Alaska Wood Energy Development Task Group, obtains funding from the U.S. Forest Service and the state of Alaska and is linked to the Alaska Energy Authority’s biomass program.
The group provides biomass outreach and education to Alaska’s communities, as well as providing technical support to the communities, Cady Lister, AEA chief economist, told the AEA board on April 27.
High-efficiency furnace A biomass system consists essentially of a high-efficiency wood furnace that heats water that can be fed into building heating systems. Dan Smith, AEA assistant biomass program manager, told the board that in a biomass furnace the wood is incinerated rapidly and at a high temperature: As a consequence of the complete burning of the fuel the furnace exhaust is largely free of particulate emissions and has somewhat similar particulate content to the exhaust from a natural gas furnace.
Feedstock for a biomass system can consist of split logs, wood pellets or wood chips.
Smith commented that the source of timber for a biomass system depends on the location of the community that is using the system. Often, based on forestry inventories developed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resource, a community can use a percentage timber harvest, typically within five miles of the community. One community is using wood recovered from the cutting of fire breaks in a forested region.
A biomass system provides renewable energy in the sense that it consumes timber which is actively growing but which would eventually decompose naturally if not harvested. And, although the up-front cost of a system can be high, the cost of the fuel remains within the community, while the use of the system also creates some local employment.
Identifying communities Lister commented that a regional energy planning project that AEA had conducted last year had helped identify communities where biomass energy will work, with this community identification forming the first step in biomass implementation. Having conducted outreach to communities with biomass potential, the task group can conduct pre-feasibility studies for the communities, with AEA and Forestry Commission staff evaluating the engineering of prospective projects, analyzing project economics and preparing the beginnings of business plans.
Given the critical importance of village commitment to a project, the next step in an individual community is to wait for a community energy champion to emerge, to drive the project. Biomass projects require much hands-on work, with a need for involvement of many people in the community, Lister explained.
Once a community commits to a project, the next step is to establish funding sources and develop a business plan, and an operations and maintenance plan for the community. Funding for construction has become more challenging this year because of the demise of AEA’s Renewable Energy Fund, Lister said.
Successful implementation As an example of a successful biomass implementation, Lister cited a two-boiler, cord wood system that has been implemented in Thorne Bay school on Prince of Wales Island. The system has saved the school sufficient money to enable the school to build a greenhouse that uses biomass heating. That greenhouse provides fresh food for the school and for a local restaurant, while the splitting of logs for the system by parents and school students earns funds that support school activities such as sports team travel.
The Galena biomass development is another exciting project, Lister said. This has come on line recently, following development delays resulting from flooding in the village. The system involves a locally operated wood chip business, the only remote chip business of its type in the world. The chips feed a biomass boiler that has replaced a steam heating system that had reached the end of its useful life. The new system supplies heat to 14 buildings in the village and has displaced the annual consumption of 200,000 gallons of heating fuel. AEA provided a $3.2 million grant for the furnace system, with the additional loans funding the required support infrastructure.
Another successful project has involved the installation of a wood pellet boiler at Ketchikan Airport, where about 100 tons per year of locally produced wood pellets are replacing 20,000 gallons of heating fuel, Lister said.
|
