Energy derived from biomass requires a steady source of burnable woody materials that cost money to procure. First there is the upfront cost to actually harvest or collect the biomass. Then there is the substantial – and most likely constantly increasing – cost of fuel to power the large vehicles necessary to bring the woody mass to the biomass plants. This is why it is considered economically feasible to run a biomass plant only when the woody fuel is within a 50-mile or less radius of the plant. Click on map to the right to see the rough 50-mile estimates for the three proposed Central Oregon Biomass Plants.
Of course, solar energy has none of these constraints. And, unlike the source of biomass fuels, there is no fear that the fuel for solar power - the sun – will cease any time soon.
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Will Biomass Fuel Burn Out in 10 Years?
The Bulletin – February 6, 2008
Woody Biomass Plant Map
In the next few years, Central Oregon could see three new power plants that could generate more than 50 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 40,000 homes – and all from a renewable resource that is found throughout the region.
But some people have questions about whether the companies can get a hold of enough of that renewable resource.
The proposed plants would be fueled from biomass – small trees, branches, urban wood waste and other material that is burned to generate electricity. While project managers say a portion of the wood would come from private lands and be diverted from landfills, a big chunk of the biomass fuel would come from the federal forests that surround the facilities.
Project managers with Silvan Power, which is proposing to build power plants in La Pine and Prineville, and Warm Springs, which is proposing to expand its facility on the reservation, say there is plenty of small woody material in the forests to fuel the facilities. And that material needs to be removed to reduce potential fuel for wildfire and keep forests healthy.
There is lots of material that should be removed, agreed Phil Chang, program administrator with the Central Oregon Intergovenmental Council. But Chang said that Silvan Power should do some computer modeling to show how much could be removed over a long period of time, which might make the environmental community more comfortable.
“There are hundreds of thousands of tons of material that’s pretty close in to the city of Prineville or the city of La Pine that probably everyone could agree should be removed to restore the forest and also help reduce fire risk,” said Chang, who works on biomass-related projects. “Whether there would still be several hundred thousands of tons of matter that everyone agrees on in 10 years is a question that is answerable, but has not been looked at yet.”
Some people have concerns that after a decade or two of removing the small woody debris from forests, the power plants will start using larger trees or remove too much of the small wood from certain places.
“One of my major concerns is that you’re going to go back into the forest and start sweeping the forest floor clean,” said Marilyn Miller, conservation chairwoman for the Juniper Chapter of the Sierra Club. She said she had given a list of questions to one of the project managers with Ochoco Power, the division of Silvan Power working on the proposal in Prineville, and he was working on the answers.
There are areas, especially around La Pine, where there is a need to get rid of some of the smaller trees in overcrowded forests, she said. But she is worried that removing the material could damage soil or disrupt wildlife.
Biomass is a sustainable industry, said Lou Gillette, chief executive officer of Ochoco Power, and the company has hired foresters to analyze how much material is out there, how fast it’s growing and how much will be available in the coming years. They sized the plant accordingly, he said.
“We’ve made sure that we’re not over-harvesting the forest, and that it is sustainable over a long period of time,” Gillette said.
The Prineville plant will probably use about 145,000 bone dry tons of wood a year, he said, and although the plans for the La Pine plant could change, it is currently expected to use about 165,000 bond dry tons. A bone dry ton refers to wood that has had moisture removed.
And at least for the Prineville plant, managers expect that about 70 percent of the fuel supply will come from nearby federal forests, and 30 percent would come from urban wood waste and private lands. While it’s too soon to say what that split would be in La Pine, both plants would draw from areas within about 50 miles, he said, though that could change based on fuel costs.
When Warm Springs was studying the possibility of expanding its current power plant to a 15.8 megawatt plant, it determined that there was eight times more woody material in the forest than would be needed to fuel the plant, said Cal Mukumoto, a project manager for the Warm Springs biomass project.
“So even though they’re moving in, there’s still probably plenty of supply for both plants”, Mukumoto said of Silvan Power.
But while there’s plenty of biomass material in the region’s forest, the Forest Service isn’t putting up enough of it for sale to meet the demands of all three proposed plants, he said.
“There’s a gap between where the agency is at, and where it would need to be to supply such a large consumer,” Chang said, adding that there’s also competition for biomass products from post and pole makers, companies who use it for hog fuel, and others such as JTS Animal Bedding in Redmond.
Last year, the Deschutes National Forest harvested trees from more than 11,000 acres, said John Allen, Deschutes forest supervisor. And from that about 218,000 green tons of biomass material was sold, which is equivalent to about 109,000 bone dry tons. There isn’t a firm number for how much biomass the Ochoco National Forest sold, but it was quite a bit lower, he said.
The biomass doesnt’ have much of a monetary value, however, so to get the material out of the forests the agency can do stewardship contracts. Under stewardship contracts, loggers can cut some bigger trees to pay for the rest of the work. Sometimes the agency also pays for the removal of the small trees, but it can’t afford to do much more of that, he said.
But if biomass plants can start making money, and can afford to buy the material from the Forest Service, the agency could do more, he said.
“I think a lot of our management needs that we need to do, as far as thinning of small trees on the Deschutes and Ochoco, that’s the material that these companies want,” Allen said. This year, he said, the Deschutes is doubling the acres it will treat with stewardship projects and will offer 3,000 acres for bid.
The power plants will be able to take material from other public forests, not just the Deschutes Gillette said. Silvan Power is hoping the Forest Service will offer long-term stewardship contracts, which would provide a steady supply for a number of years the company could count on. The Malheur National Forest, for example, is considering a stewardship contract that would involve 100,000 acres over 10 years, he said, which would be enough to fuel a plant for that time.
The Deschutes is hoping to have several three-to-five-year stewardship contracts in 2009, Allen said.
“The companies are looking for assurance, and we can’t give them full assurance,” he said. “But we plan to put out multiyear stewardship contract … and so as a company hopefully they would have some assurance of supply.
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And from the February Economic Development of Central Oregon Newsletter:
$40 million biomass project progresses in Prineville
Prineville could see a $40-million dollar investment in the local economy by this summer. Ochoco Power has announced the building of a biomass plant, which takes timber, agriculture products, and food waste, and turns it into energy. Over 100 jobs could be created once the plant is complete with wages jobs starting at $15 per hour. Resources for the plant, located in Crook County property north of Prineville, will be gathered from within a 60-mile radius of Prineville, including fuel from both public and private lands. Ochoco Power says it needs a 30-year supply to make the project work, and believes the resources are there. “We have done our homework,” said Jim Crocker, owner of Ochoco Power “and believe through discussions with the Forest Service, Stewardship contracts, and private landowners, we should be able to find plenty of materials to run the plant.”
Crocker met with Crook County Judge Scott Cooper, Jason Carr of EDCO’s Prineville office, and other state agencies to hammer out details of the plan. 150,000 gallons of water will be needed every day, but Crocker says the property he’s purchased has sufficient wells, and other water rights available. Judge Cooper supports the project, and believes the investment in the community is well-timed, given the slowing economy. Portland General Electric (PGE) has already expressed interest in buying power once the plant is on-line. And because it will also produce heat and steam, there’s the possibility other companies may be able to utilize the facility in the future. Construction is planned for some time this summer, with completion a year later.
