Plant Mitchell. (Dave Bender)
Georgia Power Company wants to trade in coal for woodchips to fuel a power plant near Albany. The company is investing in bio mass technology with the hope of saving money.
While bio mass is considered a cleaner fuel source compared to coal, Georgia Power believes it could also be a cheaper solution for producing electricity.
Plant Mitchell turbine area: only one of the facilities three yellow turbines is operational. (Dave Bender)
On a tour of Plant Mitchell in nearby Albany, manager Ronnie Walston explains that Georgia’s millions of acres of forests could be used to power energy producing turbines.
Plant Mitchell water boilers. Coal or wood biomass is heated at the bottom. (Dave Bender)
Currently, the company is experimenting by burning wood chips and similar waste products instead of coal to heat water in the plant's three–story-high boilers. Walston, shouting over the roar of steam turbines in the background:
“The generator takes high-pressure steam from the boiler, turns the generator which delivers 155 megawatts of electrical energy to the grid in Georgia.”The generator consumes a whopping 62-tons of coal an hour.
Plant Mitchell: Rail cars delivering coal at a siding. (Dave Bender)
After the conversion, the plant would require 160-trucks a day to haul in a million tons of wood chips. While using wood cuts the electrical output by a third, it’s enough to power an estimated 90,000 homes.
Walston says the conversion would keep the plant - which now buys its coal from Appalachia - running for years to come and help the local economy:
“…those dollars now flow out of state. Now, with the biomass – that’s currently not being utilized – will be purchased and consumed here within a 100-mile radius of Plant Mitchell, and so those dollars that previously went out of state will be staying in-state and will create some 50-to-75 jobs in the fuel-harvesting area.”If successful, the bio mass conversion could happen in 2012.
Control panel at Plant Mitchell. (Dave Bender)
The plan still needs approval from the Environmental Protection Division and the Public Service Commission. A recent study by Oregon state officials show bio mass can cost up to 6.7 per kilowatt hour to produce.
Forbes Magazine ranks Georgia as the third best state in the nation for alternative energy from biomass. The article referenced the amount of privately owned forest in Georgia, more than any other state in the country, as a reason for the state’s ranking. The ranking comes on the heels of CNBC’s including Georgia in the top ten and second in the Southeast in its annual rankings of “America’s Top States for Business.”
EPA estimates show Georgian's pay 6.5 cents for coal produced electricity. The cost of biomass is expected to drop as technologies improve and more plants come online.
Click here for more GPB News coverage about biomass and related alternative energy solutions.
