Utilities Repower Aging Coal Plants To Burn Biomass
At least three electric utilities are seeking to retrofit aging coal-fueled plants to burn biomass in order to keep costs down, meet renewable portfolio standards and avoid having to comply with new emissions rules. “A lot of these coal plants are entering the twilight of their years,” says Dave O’Connor, manager of combustion performance for the Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, Calif. Repowering “is much cheaper than building a new greenfield plant and is a very cost-effective way to give them a new purpose.”
O’Connor has been working closely with Georgia Power Co., Atlanta, which last month received permission from the Georgia Public Service Commission to spend $103 million to convert a 164-MW coal-fired unit at its Plant Mitchell, near Albany, Ga., to a 96-MW wood-fired biomass plant.