Xcel plans call for more wood to be burned
From an article in The Daily Press (Ashland, WI):
MADISON — Xcel Energy’s plans to keep its Bayfront power plant in Ashland compliant with stricter pollution control standards should result in buying more locally grown wood products, according to a company spokesman.
Changes in the federal clean air regulations will require a significant reduction by January 2009 in nitrous oxide (NOX) and other pollutants emitted by power plants. Xcel’s plans to spend $7.7 million this year on equipment will cut Bayfront’s NOX emission from .5 pounds per million BTUs to .1 pound, said Tina Bell, an Xcel environmental engineer.
“That’s a dramatic reduction,” she said.
Waste tires, wood, natural gas and coal are burned in two of Bayfront’s five boilers, and since wood produces less NOX emissions than coal, Xcel plans to buy more waste wood after the new pollution control equipment is installed by November, said David Donovan, Xcel’s manager of regulatory policy.
“We plan to burn as much biomass as we can, as much as the control technology allows us to do that,” Donovan said.
The decision to use more waste wood at Bayfront was made after Xcel commissioned a study two years ago that showed there was sufficient waste wood within 60 miles of Ashland to operate the 92-year-old plant on wood at a higher level. Locally grown wood is as cost-effective as coal and emits far less sulfur dioxide, which is also targeted by federal regulations for reductions next year.
