Issues and Answers

Cogeneration - How the Forest Creates an Energy Source

Cogeneration, along with geothermal and wind resource power, has helped create a world-renowned independent power industry in the state of California that today supplies nearly 18 percent of California s dependable capacity of electricity.

Simply, cogeneration is the simultaneous production of two or more forms of useable energy from a single fuel source. By using the fuel “twice,” this technology has greater efficiencies than using the fuel to solely generate electricity. Most cogeneration systems are designed to produce electricity, which is used in-house or sold to an electric utility, as well as thermal energy for industrial processes (such as steam).

In relation to the forest products industry, biomass fuels are combustible organic materials which can vary dramatically in form. Wood chips, forest thinning, almond shells, and municipal solid waste are examples of materials which are combusted with little processing to generate electricity.

The need for independent energy sources such as cogeneration arose from a nationwide crisis. With the onset of the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, the state s utilities were faced with quadrupled oil prices and people in lines at the gas pumps. The time had come to provide incentives for the creation and implementation of independent power sources.

In 1978 Congress enacted the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) which required utilities to purchase power from renewable and cogeneration power plants at the utility s “avoided cost.” This guaranteed the power plants a customer and provided opportunities for the new industry.

The cogeneration industry is just over 10 years old in California and has already helped the state reduce its utility use of oil by 90 percent since 1976. Known as a reliable available power source, cogeneration plants met critical energy needs during the frightening 1989 earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area when some of the utilities power plants could not.

The efficiency and cost effectiveness of cogeneration along with its use of renewable resources and state-of-the-art pollution control devises have many looking toward cogeneration for future needs. In Northern California, utilization of overstocked forests, a major fire hazard, appears a natural method for helping restore and maintain forest health.

Biomass projects release significantly fewer emissions compared to what would otherwise be dealt with in an open burn situation. In addition, air and water pollution control technologies allow plants to convert waste byproducts to electric energy and steam. As a result, many lumber and plywood manufacturers generate all of their own electricity and many sell their surplus to utilities.

What will be the future of cogeneration and the independent power industry? The next decade may prove as dynamic as the last.

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