CHP from Biomass: The Next Generation

October 23, 2016

BY Ben Bell-Walker and Aaron Aber

All electric generation should be cogeneration. That may seem like an extreme statement, but in a world where energy usage, environmental impact, and costs are increasingly important, and the movement toward renewable energy resources is accelerating, we cannot throw away “waste energy,” (waste heat in this case) so profligately. The annual 2015 U.S. energy usage flow chart from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory estimates that of 97.5 quadrillion British thermal units of energy used for transportation, heating and electricity, almost 60 percent was “rejected energy.”

Policymakers at both the state and federal levels are beginning to recognize this. Combined heat and power (CHP) can utilize all kinds of fuels, and, because it makes better use of existing resources, it allows for building and community resiliency, and can garner bipartisan support in ways that other initiatives within the energy efficiency and sustainable energy space do not.  The Pew Charitable Trusts, for example, have long championed CHP within the policy sphere.

Supporters like Pew fought for a CHP renewable energy investment tax credit that is set to expire at the end of 2016. There are a number of issues with the treatment of biomass in the existing credit. Its arbitrary requirement of a minimum 20 percent electrical efficiency excludes biomass systems that have an 80 percent overall efficiency—higher than the most efficient natural gas CHP plants, which peak out at 75 percent overall efficiency—simply because  some of those systems have an electrical efficiency less than 20 percent. Biomass CHP advocates have an obligation to address these types of barriers in future state and federal actions, or they risk being left out once again. Unfortunately, action has stalled on the POWER Act, which would extend a 30 percent energy tax credit for CHP through 2018. At the state level, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has incentivized CHP through a program that offers up to $2.5 million for installing CHP systems. However, the organization’s regulation-heavy approach to biomass technologies, a source of debate in the biomass industry, leaves biomass at risk of being excluded from the program’s full benefits.

BTEC has taken a lead in promoting biomass CHP. The organization’s CHP Working Group is preparing to release a factsheet and whitepaper on the topic. BTEC also recognizes that the buzz around CHP often focuses on natural gas, which does not address carbon emissions or the issue of local heating. Biomass CHP, by contract, addresses both problems. We have encouraged industry and universities to work together on projects that drive the technology forward.


Author: Ben Bell-Walker
Technical Program Manager
Ben.bell-walker@biomassthermal.org

Aaron Aber
Project Assistant
aaron.aber@biomassthermal.org

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