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Bioenergy report a lot to digest
Eastern Washington farmers and dairy operators are knee-deep in enough potential energy to electrify nearly half the homes east of the Cascades, according to a new survey. Yet despite farmers' desperate need to dispose of those piles of straw and manure, Washington has no plan to spur biomass energy production, and developers have been unable to make such production commercially viable in the state.
Agricultural groups hope the report, "Bioenergy Inventory and Assessment for Eastern Washington," will persuade state lawmakers that the economic benefits of biomass energy can no longer be ignored. Published in September by the Department of Ecology, Inland Technology Education Center (INTEC) and Washington State University, the paper says anaerobic digestion of available agricultural biomass would release enough methane to generate electricity for about 40 percent of residential customers in the state's eastern region.
"Not only is biomass a viable energy alternative," observed Washington Farmers Union president Jim Davis, "it's goingto be a vital economic component for family farmer survival in this state."
INTEC chief executive officer Lewis Rumpler says his organization sees bioenergy as a potential pillar of the Inland regional economy. Bioenergy could "reinvent agriculture" while fueling growth in the technology sector, Rumpler said. Expanding bioenergy production would create jobs in microbial engineering, and having "energy in perpetuity" – along with cleaner air, soil and groundwater – would improve the overall business climate, he said.
Gretchen Borck, issues director for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, said the study, once refined, could prove a useful tool for developers. "There's a lot of underutilized biomass out there," she said. "If we can just identify it better, someone could use this report to go out and make straw-to-energy projects happen."
Converting biomass to energy is a well-established practice in other parts of the world. Washington state Department of Ecology biosolids coordinator Mark Fuchs, a co-author of the inventory, was surprised at the prevalence of anaerobic digestion in Europe. "Technically, the solution is there," Fuchs said.
Midwestern states have taken the lead in domestic bioenergy production. But Oregon, which provides a business energy tax credit to biomass projects, is also making progress. Last month, the Port of Tillamook Bay began operating an 8-megawatt digester fueled by manure from 4,000 dairy cows.
In Washington, Energy Northwest hopes its digester on a dairy outside Pasco will grow efficient enough to turn a profit. Biomass program manager Stan Davison called the project a "bio reactor" – different from an anaerobic digester in that it uses oxygen to help break down the waste. The goal is to produce 1 kilowatt of electricity per cow, which would make the device four to five times as efficient as other digesters.
At present, the bio reactor only produces power for on-site use. But plans call for incorporating wastes from many more cows. "There is no practical limit on dairy size," Davison said. "It's just a matter of engineering."
Energy Northwest has done its own calculations of Northwest biomass potential. "You look at [the numbers] and you say, 'We don't want to tell anybody that Ð they'd never believe us,'" said Davison, who estimates that several hundred megawatts are available across the region.
Policy incentives needed
Scoping potential is one thing – attracting financial investment for bioenergy projects is another. Anaerobic digestion was a viable technology 20 years ago. Is Washington ready to lower the barriers to production?
Randy Smith of Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development says farmers and developers can't move forward with biomass projects until electric utilities commit to long-term power purchases. "Until they know that a utility is interested in entering into an agreement, you're not going to see people running out there with that great risk," he said.
The lack of a profitable, agricultural biomass project creates a "chicken-and-egg" quandary in Washington, Smith said: neither utilities nor developers are willing to make the first move.
Smith said many Eastern Washington utilities would promote bioenergy development if the state granted a production tax credit – similar to the federal production tax credit wind farms receive – to compensate for the slightly higher cost of biomass-generated electricity. Borck said the Wheat Growers will work to extend a sales tax exemption (set to sunset in 2006) on equipment used to remove straw from fields. Her group may appeal for a business energy tax credit, though not during the next legislative session.
Renewable energy targets proposed
Some Washington state public-interest groups, including the NW Energy Coalition, believe renewable generation provides so many values – such as environmental preservation, rate stability and rural economic stimulus #&150; that its development should be a legislative priority. They'll file a bill this session seeking to set renewable energy targets for utilities.
A recent Tellus Institute study found that if utilities gradually ramped up their renewable energy acquisitions while investing in energy efficiency, ratepayers would feel almost no short-term rate impact and in the next 20 years would save hundreds of millions of dollars.
Some farmers have lobbied state lawmakers for passage of renewable energy targets, but farm groups have generally shied from endorsing such measures.
Davis embodies the philosophical divide. The national Farmers Union supported adding a Renewable Electricity Standard to the proposed federal energy bill. But Davis, also a Douglas County PUD commissioner, said he and the Washington state Farmers Union chapter oppose the proposed state legislation because it would take control away from local utilities.
Anaerobic digestion carries other divisive threats for the agricultural community. The process is typically feasible only for large operations that mass a lot of waste in one place – project developers don't like to deal with multiple suppliers. Some rural advocates fear anaerobic digesters will provide yet another advantage to larger dairies and farms, further squeezing small operations that can neither afford the technology nor get a contract to supply waste.
One thing is clear: Washington residents want renewable power. A recent poll shows more than 90 percent of voters support increased development of renewables, and most of those said it should be required through legislation.
For now, that palpable customer demand is the strongest driver of new projects. Davison says Energy Northwest pushed ahead with its bio reactor project to supply its 18 member utilities with low-cost green power.
"Customer demand says they're going to need green power," Davison said, "and they can purchase it from us at a better price."