Power Plant to Cut Coal By 20% & Go For Biomass
The operator of a large power station in NSW has begun planting trees in a scheme to create carbon-neutral fuel and cut its use of coal. More than 200,000 Mallee eucalypt trees will be grown on 10 farms around Forbes, in the state’s central west for the $1.3 million trial, launched by Delta Electricity this week.
AAP reports (9 March 2010):
The operator of a large power station in NSW has begun planting trees in a scheme to create carbon-neutral fuel and cut its use of coal.
More than 200,000 Mallee eucalypt trees will be grown on 10 farms around Forbes, in the state’s central west for the $1.3 million trial, launched by Delta Electricity on Tuesday.
If it succeeds, the company will start a $250 million project, which it says could slash its use of coal by 20 per cent at the Wallerawang power station west of Sydney.
Carbon-neutral plant material, or `biomass’, would be used in its place.
The trees, which take five years to mature, will be harvested every three years and processed into renewable fuel pallets.
“We believe biomass has huge potential to diversify Australia’s reliance on coal-based power,” Delta Electricity’s chief executive Jim Henness said in a statement.
“The uptake of this technology will grow as other coal generators recognise the benefit of this innovation.
“At the same time it supports the rural sector with a drought resistant and guaranteed cash crop.”
Achieving the 20 per cent biomass target would reduce carbon dioxide emissions at Wallerawang by one million tonnes a year, Delta says.
This would require about 1.2 million tonnes of plant material, from 70 million mallee trees on 300 farms in the central-west.
NSW Regional Development Minister Ian Macdonald says the trial will create up to 20 jobs in Forbes and eight jobs in Lithgow.
“If the trial is successful and the co-firing project proceeds, biomass planting and burning will help to create over 70 jobs in Forbes and secure 150 jobs in Lithgow,” Mr Macdonald said in a statement.
“Mallee plantings will then provide farmers in the region with long-term contracts for a drought-proof, alternative income stream and establish a new industry in the central west.”
Source: www.news.smh.com.au