Wood-Fired Power Plant Part of Nationwide Trend - WVNS-TV

A nationwide movement toward wood as a renewable source of electricity may be beginning to reach West Virginia.

Proposals for new wood-fired power generation projects have increased across the nation, from one in 2007 to seven in 2008 and a dozen in 2009, according to USA Today, with dozens more in planning — several as big as 100 megawatts. While much of the mid-Atlantic highlands are heavily wooded and support diverse forestry activities, wood for power is showing only a little momentum in the region.

PJM Interconnection, which manages the transmission grid in the 11-state region that includes West Virginia, shows that the amount of power generated from wood doubled from 2005 to 2008.

PJM lists three proposed wood-fired power projects that have applied for authorization to connect to the grid: one several-year-old Virginia project that already is partially in service and two projects in North Carolina.

But one new project that has not yet applied for interconnection was announced last week in West Virginia.

American Clean Energy LLC, a company headed by former state senator and treasurer Tom Loehr, announced that it would build a $150 million, 28-megawatt wood waste power plant at the Harless Wood Products Industrial Park in Mingo County.

The plant will use more than 400,000 tons of wood waste each year, according to Loehr.

West Virginia generates about 12 times that amount of waste each year, about 4.8 million tons, according to the “West Virginia Energy Opportunities” document released by the state Division of Energy in 2007.

The wood waste power project has been authorized by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority to issue up to $100 million in tax-free bonds.

American Clean Energy has not yet chosen the vendor for its technology or completed procurement contracts for wood waste, Loehr said.

Engineering and design firm ET Energy, a division of ET Environmental of Atlanta, will handle those details, he said. Loehr contracted with the same firm for his Charleston Clean Energy landfill gas project in Charleston, which currently is under construction.

They dont talk about Hydro because it does have an impact on the rivers and their eco systems. Its not a footprint free technology thats why they dont talk about it and its very expensive.

has anything that Tom Loehr been associated with made money for the state yet ?????????

175,000 windmills to replace ONE coal plant. Low est. Where do we put them all ?

Has anyone ever noticed that environmentalists promote wind and solar as the bees knees of producing power but that many places in the US cannot produce either, except for perhaps supplementing your home electric. The most green, most reliable energy producers has always been hydroelectric and it can produce massive amounts of power, as much or more than coal fired, and it can work 24/7, 365 on the major rivers of America that are already locked and damned for navigation and flood control purposes. You could put nearly a hundred hyrdo plants on the Ohio alone and hyrdo has and is producing electricity all around the nation. TVA was all about hydro. And yet, the green folks never talk about it, we just hear about solar and wind. Someone is making some serious money on this, Obama is no different than any other crass, greedy politician. Hyrdo, its green, its reliabile, its cheaper to build and maintain and it creates massive amounts of energy. There already is one on the Hannibal locks and there could be three right within the Wheeling/ Moundsville area. No, there are people who wise to switch wealth and decimate places like WV. Notice that Obama did not visit WV once in two years of campaigning, not once. We need a clean sweep in Congress, clean them all out.

concerned citizen- The plant will burn wood waste from current logging and lumber activities. Even if they burned 'fresh logs', timber is certainly a lot more sustainable than other forms of 'fuel', and doesn't require scarifying the land to harvest.

Just sayin-

thats all we need, a good source to help burn up all our tree's a lot faster than they can grew. everyday mountain tops and hills are getting stripped to almost bare. thats ok, more trees they take out, the more it keeps us from creating more water in our soil. why don't we just burn every tree we have in the state and turn it in a hilly desert. Makes since don't it ?

Boy thats alot of money for a 28 megawatt power plant. Showalter Micropower would cost less then 7 million and make 10.2 megawatts. SMP uses trees on site and replanted trees as carbon sinks.

I really love to read some articles that have great positive impacts on its reader and benefit by reading such article. I admire these writers in sharing their views and or opinions that can enlighten the mind of the readers. Great Job and continue inspiring readers.

will this lower the cost of tree removal, with sale of the wood chips?

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