- by Andy Balaskovitz, November 10, 2014, Midwest Energy News
Developers from metro Detroit have plans to build a $100 million, 34 MW biomass plant in the central Upper Peninsula, about 20 miles south of an aging coal plant that is the ongoing focus of the region’s energy crisis.
The company building the plant, Marquette Green Energy LLC, says it would run on a combination of biomass and tire-derived fuels and a smaller amount of natural gas to start. The developers say it’s a step forward as the region scrambles to figure out how to avoid major rate increases in the short term and build new generation for the long term.
“I call it stealth development,” said Barry Bahrman, a partner in the project and a fifth-generation Upper Peninsula native. “It’s developed to a point now when we can let people know there’s part of an answer in place. … Local generation is what the U.P. needs.”
The project has received an air quality permit from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which Bahrman said makes it the first tangible generation project to surface since the Presque Isle Power Plant closure started making headlines.
The combined heat and power plant would be built on 21 acres at the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, a decommissioned base and unincorporated community near the town of Gwinn. The site was formerly used as a heat plant on the base. Of the 34 MW capacity, 26 MW will be deliverable to the grid.
The group is in the process of applying to the Mid-Continent Independent System Operator (MISO) to connect with the local transmission system. Developers say they also have a round of local zoning and building approvals to come. They hope to start building in the first quarter of 2015.
Stewart Harrison, another partner in the project, said the location has “significant access” to roads, rail lines and natural gas. He also cited the nearby Michigan Renewable Carbon biomass production facility as a potential source for fuel.
“It’s got a lot of amenities that fit into the picture,” Harrison said.
He added that the plant will be “totally vertically integrated and closed loop,” with a sustainable supply of woody biomass resources coming in from a variety of suppliers. He declined to give specifics about where the fuel source would come from, saying they are still in negotiations.
“We have the connections on the biomass and fuel side,” Harrison said. “We’re confident we can satisfy the needs of the plant. It’s a big beast and it will take a lot of tons, but I believe they’re available.”
Marvin Roberson, a forest policy specialist with the Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club, said land-use concerns arise when talking about large-scale biomass plants. He said to run a plant at 26 MW would require 260,000 acres of dedicated forestland, which includes standing timber and residual wood, if it were sourced by one area. That number decreases as biomass comes from other sources, such as construction waste.
“There’s simply no way” it could be done without relying on other sources, Roberson said.
In an April op-ed in the Detroit Free Press, Roberson argued that biomass as a statewide fuel source isn’t realistic.
“Power derived from cutting and burning standing timber cannot be any significant part of the solution to electrical needs because there simply aren’t enough trees in Michigan,” he wrote.
He believes biomass fits for small, distributed plants in sparsely populated areas.
“We don’t oppose the concept of biomass, but we need to look at it realistically,” he said in an interview. “You don’t want to build a 200 MW power plant that then creates demand for biomass that isn’t reasonably met and that isn’t cutting into other forest users’ supply.
“It seems real tempting for folks to say the U.P. has a whole bunch of wood. When you start looking at the actual numbers, there isn’t as much as it looks like.”
