Mar26
Note: RENEW and Clean Wisconsin submitted the following response to an Alliant Energy commentary that highlighted the use of biomass in a proposed Cassville generation plant.
Beware of “Flex Fuel” Coal Plants by Michael Vickerman and Ryan Schryver
The year 2007 was not kind to the coal industry and 2008 appears to be more of the same steady stream of bad news for companies wishing to build new coal plants. Public opposition and financial problems have continued to plague projects in every corner of the country. Perhaps that explains Alliant Energy’s eagerness to greenwash its proposed coal plant in Cassville as a “flex fuel” or “biomass-ready” plant (in a guest column in the Wisconsin State Journal, March 18).
But of the 300 megawatts of new capacity that Alliant seeks to build, 90% of it would be dedicated entirely to coal, the dirtiest source of power available. The fuel flexibility would only apply to the remaining 10% of the plant, and even that is hypothetical. There is no guarantee that the plant would ever burn any other fuels besides coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming.
The inefficient design of Alliant’s plant ensures that only one-third of the energy in the coal and biomass is converted into electricity. The other two-thirds will go up the stack as exhaust heat and pollution. This new coal plant would be no more efficient than the existing Cassville plant built more than 40 years ago.
The “flex fuel” concept that Alliant is peddling is simply a smokescreen meant to distract us from the dirty reality of their old-technology coal plant. While the technology Alliant has chosen may allow them to burn small amounts of biomass, it also will have the highest rates of global warming pollution of any technology available. In fact, the technology Alliant proposes to use is so inefficient that the utility would have to burn nearly 25% biomass to have the same rates of global warming pollution as other coal plants burning 100% coal in Wisconsin today.
Burning 10% biomass at Alliant’s coal plant would be the equivalent of putting a 10% ethanol blend in a brand-new Hummer. It may be slightly better than a regular old Hummer, but you can say the same thing about an Edsel.
There are better ways to expand the use of bioenergy sources than through utility-scale generation. For instance, bioenergy projects located at dairy farms, cheese plants and sawmills can produce both heat to serve the host facility and electricity to sell to the energy grid. Because these applications don’t involve trucking fuels over long distances, their energy return is much higher than what could be obtained by burning them in an inefficient coal plant.
There are better options available to Alliant that could provide safe, clean and affordable renewable energy for its customers. Alliant should abandon this dubious flex-fuel charade and start making real investments in renewable energy that won’t perpetuate our dependence on dirty, out-of-state coal. -30-
Michael Vickerman is executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a Madison-based renewable energy advocacy organization.
Ryan Schryver is a clean energy advocate for Clean Wisconsin, a statewide environmental advocacy organization.
Beware of “Flex Fuel” Coal Plants by Michael Vickerman and Ryan Schryver
The year 2007 was not kind to the coal industry and 2008 appears to be more of the same steady stream of bad news for companies wishing to build new coal plants. Public opposition and financial problems have continued to plague projects in every corner of the country. Perhaps that explains Alliant Energy’s eagerness to greenwash its proposed coal plant in Cassville as a “flex fuel” or “biomass-ready” plant (in a guest column in the Wisconsin State Journal, March 18).
But of the 300 megawatts of new capacity that Alliant seeks to build, 90% of it would be dedicated entirely to coal, the dirtiest source of power available. The fuel flexibility would only apply to the remaining 10% of the plant, and even that is hypothetical. There is no guarantee that the plant would ever burn any other fuels besides coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming.
The inefficient design of Alliant’s plant ensures that only one-third of the energy in the coal and biomass is converted into electricity. The other two-thirds will go up the stack as exhaust heat and pollution. This new coal plant would be no more efficient than the existing Cassville plant built more than 40 years ago.
The “flex fuel” concept that Alliant is peddling is simply a smokescreen meant to distract us from the dirty reality of their old-technology coal plant. While the technology Alliant has chosen may allow them to burn small amounts of biomass, it also will have the highest rates of global warming pollution of any technology available. In fact, the technology Alliant proposes to use is so inefficient that the utility would have to burn nearly 25% biomass to have the same rates of global warming pollution as other coal plants burning 100% coal in Wisconsin today.
Burning 10% biomass at Alliant’s coal plant would be the equivalent of putting a 10% ethanol blend in a brand-new Hummer. It may be slightly better than a regular old Hummer, but you can say the same thing about an Edsel.
There are better ways to expand the use of bioenergy sources than through utility-scale generation. For instance, bioenergy projects located at dairy farms, cheese plants and sawmills can produce both heat to serve the host facility and electricity to sell to the energy grid. Because these applications don’t involve trucking fuels over long distances, their energy return is much higher than what could be obtained by burning them in an inefficient coal plant.
There are better options available to Alliant that could provide safe, clean and affordable renewable energy for its customers. Alliant should abandon this dubious flex-fuel charade and start making real investments in renewable energy that won’t perpetuate our dependence on dirty, out-of-state coal. -30-
Michael Vickerman is executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a Madison-based renewable energy advocacy organization.
Ryan Schryver is a clean energy advocate for Clean Wisconsin, a statewide environmental advocacy organization.