08/19/2008 09:02 AM

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Weekly Clean Energy Roundup: September 3, 2008

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• Hawaii's Conversion of Coal Plant to Biomass Marks a New Trend
• Cellulosic Ethanol Facilities Marching Ahead  
• GM to Spend $500 Million to Launch the Chevy Cruze, a New Small Car
• Ford Invests $75 Million to Convert Truck Plant for Small Cars
• San Francisco Approves a Tough Green Building Standard
• High Fuel Costs Ground U.S. Travelers on Labor Day Weekend
  

Hawaii's Conversion of Coal Plant to Biomass Marks a New Trend

A coal-fired power plant in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, that formerly provided electricity to a sugar mill is now being converted into a 24-megawatt (MW) biomass power plant. MMA Renewable Ventures is financing the conversion and will operate the new plant, which will be called the H? Honua Bioenergy Facility.

Located about 8 miles north of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii, the facility will draw on residual wood from the local timber industry and other biomass wastes to produce enough power for about 18,000 homes, meeting up to 10% of the Big Island's electricity needs. See the MMA Renewable Ventures press release (PDF 83 KB) and the H? Honua Bioenergy LLC Web site.

The conversion from coal to biomass power is a growing trend in the U.S. Back in 2006, Public Service of New Hampshire finished converting one of its coal-fired power plants into a 50-MW biomass power plant, the Northern Wood Power Project, which is fueled with wood chips. Earlier this year, DTE Energy Services, Inc. agreed to buy the 50-MW E.J. Stoneman Power Plant in Cassville, Wisconsin, with plans to convert it to burn wood waste in 2009.

And last week, Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, asked the state's public service commission for approval to convert the coal-fired Plant Mitchell to run on wood fuel. If approved, the retrofit will begin in 2011 and the biomass plant will start operating in mid-2012. The 96-MW biomass plant will run on surplus wood from suppliers within a 100-mile radius of the plant, which is located near Albany, Georgia. See the article from this newsletter on the Northern Wood Power Project, and see the press releases from DTE Energy Services and the Southern Company.

Companies are also building new power plants designed to run on biomass, with the most recent example being the Snowflake White Mountain Biomass Power Plant in Snowflake, Arizona. The 24-MW biomass plant began operating in June. Owned and operated by Renegy Holdings, Inc., the plant will burn waste recycled paper fibers from an adjacent paper mill, as well as waste wood material from the area's forest industries. About 75% of the plant's fuel will come from forest thinning efforts on U.S. forest lands in Arizona's White Mountains.

Meanwhile, Dominion Virginia Power is hedging its bets by building a coal-fired power plant that can draw on biomass for up to 20% of its fuel. Construction of the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center began in late June, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 14. See Renegy Holdings' press release and Web site for the Snowflake plant and Dominion's press release and Web site for its power plant.

Cellulosic Ethanol Facilities Marching Ahead

A number of companies are making significant progress on building facilities to convert cellulosic biomass, such as agricultural and forestry wastes, into ethanol. In early August, AE Biofuels, Inc. opened a demonstration facility in Butte, Montana, to produce ethanol from a variety of plant materials, including grasses, wheat straw, corn stalks, and sugar cane stalks. But the facility is also able to produce ethanol from traditional starch and sugar sources such as corn, wheat, barley, and sugarcane, providing flexibility for the company. According to AE Biofuels, the company's Ambient Temperature Enzyme technology significantly reduces the consumption of energy and water in the production of ethanol. See the AE Biofuels press release.

Other pilot-scale facilities currently under development include a facility in Vonore, Tennessee, that will be built by DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC (DDCE)-a joint venture of DuPont and Genencor, a division of Danisco-and the University of Tennessee Research Foundation. The facility will draw on dedicated switchgrass crops and corn stover, freeing their sugars using a combination of an alkaline pretreatment and enzymes and converting the sugars into ethanol using a proprietary biocatalyst. It will start producing ethanol in December 2009.

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