Web exclusive posted April 17, 2008 at 1:35 p.m. CST

Utilities just can't meet state-by-state renewable-energy standards with wind alone – biomass can help. That was the message Xcel Energy Inc.'s Betsy Engelking, manager for resource planning and bidding told participants on April 16 at the International Biomass '08 Conference and Trade Show in Minneapolis.

Wind gets all the attention when states set renewable-energy standards because it's well represented by lobbyists, Engelking told participants. Not so for biomass. "Nobody stands for biomass," said Engelking. "The wind lobby was there in full force, but where were the biomass people?"

Yet Engelking said biomass will be in demand as states set standards to meet the federal renewable-energy standards. Minnesota has set a mandate requiring 25 percent of its electricity come from renewable energy by 2025. As a result, Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, which is Minnesota's largest utility, must generate 30 percent of its power using renewables by 2020.

No state has adopted a biomass standard, said Engelking, and definitions vary from state to state. Some states don't allow certain kinds of biomass, such as Montana which requires "non-toxic" biomass.

Wind generators go where the wind blows – not necessarily where people need electricity – and such generation is constrained by transmission-line capacity, Engelking said. Biomass plants, on the other hand, can go where demand is greatest.

Biomass faces challenges, however. Wind may be cheaper but biomass projects, especially with cogeneration, are economically viable. "I think that biomass has to show it's actually a higher-value resource and therefore it's reasonable to pay a little more," said Engelking.

Another drawback to using biomass is that the facilities need fuel from within 50 miles or less to minimize transportation costs, Engelking said. Feedstock availability may limit the size of plants; and smaller plants may not bring the same economies of scale that larger plants experience. Engelking added, developers, meanwhile, are relatively inexperienced and have limited access to financing – and they may face growing public opposition.

Even so, biomass works. Xcel Energy now buys electricity from three biomass plants: a 50-megawatt facility in St. Paul, Minn.; 35 megawatts from Laurentian Energy, located in northeastern Minnesota's Iron Range; and 25 megawatts from the Fibrominn plant at Benson, Minn., that burns turkey litter, the first such plant in the United States.