Charter Street Heating Plant:The What, The How, And The Why

Matt PomerleauFeb. 21, 2011

Biological Systems Engineering (Natural Resources and Environmental Engineering Specialization), Certificate in Engineering for Energy Sustainability

Outline

Plant Timeline Coal Natural Gas Biomass WI Energy Use Why Decision Was Made Future Outlook

Timeline

2007 - Sierra Club challenged the State of Wisconsin over pollution emissions

2008 – WI Governor Jim Doyle announces that plant will be replaced with cleaner system

2009 – $250 million plan decided upon, scheduled to be completed 2013

November 2010 – Governor-elect Scott Walker writes Doyle Administration with intention to alter plan

Walker to Doyle

“Media reports indicate that natural gas actually scored the highest overall when judged on environmental, economic, and reliability grounds. Because Wisconsin can both save money and still meet environmental benchmarks, I ask that the Doyle Administration begin making plans to shift to natural gas rather than bio-fuel at the Charter Street Power Plant.”

Emissions Data

CO2 Emissions: 83,241 tons (2006)

SO2 Emissions: 1,347 tons (2002)

SO2 Emissions per MWh: 58.46 lb/MWh

NOx Emissions: 764 tons (2002) Mercury Emissions: (not provided) Particulate Matter Emissions: (not provided)

Original Plan

Replace four boilers with three new ones Installation of biomass boiler

Able to burn up to 250,000 tons/yr Two new gas and ultra-low sulfur distillate

fired package boilers to replace existing coal fired units

Backup generator that runs on fuel oil Plant efficiency expected to improve 5-10%

Plant Additions

Plant Conversion Projections

Biomass/Natural Gas Lower pollutant emissions Generate WI jobs keep money in state $250 million cost

Natural Gas Lower pollutant emissions Save $100 million

Coal (who’s got it?)

Recoverable Reserves Annual Production

World Top Ten (million tons)

Coal (who’s got it?)

Coal Mining Methods

Mountain Topping

Natural Gas

Natural gas combustion produces almost 45 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than coal, emits lower levels of nitrogen oxides and particulates, and produces virtually no sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions

Natural gas is still a fossil fuel Roughly 85% of natural gas is produced in

the U.S. 87% of imports are from Canada 0% of natural gas is produced in Wisconsin

Natural Gas Pipeline

Natural Gas Costs

Consist of four main components: Production Transmission Distribution Commodity price as determined by the

marketplace

The interstate and intrastate pipeline infrastructure can only transport so much natural gas at any one time, and in essence provides a 'ceiling' for the amount of natural gas that can reach the market.

Price Fluctuation

(Years vs. Dollars/m^3)

Biomass (Why?)

Two Current Energy Concerns: Shortage of Primary Energy Supplies Environmental Effects: Global Warming

Energy of the Future? Biomass could reduce reliance on fossil fuels

as well as reduce pollution emissions

Requirements for Crop Production

Water Nutrients/Soil

Fertility CO2 Temperature

Future Goals

Biomass (Why Not?)

Food crops and biofuels compete for the same resource inputs (soil, water, nutrients)

Even in areas with naturally fertile soil, nutrients are generally added in large quantities to maintain high levels

Requires Large Areas Because Inefficient (0.3%) Ultimately we don’t fully understand the environmental

impacts on a quantitative level due to high variability

Energy Returned on Energy Invested Fossil fuels can range from 5:1 to 100:1 Corn approaching 1:1 (widely debated)

Sustainability? Resources used for renewable energy may not

themselves be renewable

Energy Density

Land Uses Food Production Living Space Recreation Biodiversity

Soil Erosion

• 600 m/my = 0.6 mm/year average

• On average, about 1500 years to remove 1 m of soil

• O horizon typically approximately 2’ deep

Soil Runoff

Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

Eutrophication = runaway algal productivity due to influx of excess nutrients

Primary nutrient source is nitrogen runoff from Mississippi river, derived from corn fertilizer

Fish and other marine life die due to oxygen depletion as algae decay

Water Use

Water Consumption for Energy Extraction

U.S. D.O.E. (2006)

Energy Pricing

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Fuel Prices (DOE, 2010)

Coal Natural Gas Wood Pellets Corn

Fuel Type

Fuel P

rice P

er

Million B

tu (

dollars

)

Fuel Type Fuel UnitFuel Price Per Unit (dollars)

Fuel Heat Content Per Unit (Btu)

Fuel Price Per Million Btu (dollars)

Coal (Anthracite) Ton 200 25000000 8.00Natural Gas Therm 1.05 100000 10.54

Pellets Ton 250 16500000 15.15Corn Ton 200 16500000 12.12

U.S. Energy Use

(DOE, 2009)

Wisconsin Energy Use

Wisconsin Electricity Generation

Future Projections(Shell Oil)

Wisconsin’s Energy Deficit

Wisconsin has NO fossil fuels Wisconsin spends over $20 billion on

imported fossil fuel energy (approximately 10% of Gross State Product)

Jobs go elsewhere Fossil fuel dependency = price

volatility

Why Change the Plan?

$100 million dollars saved Alternative plan meets emission

regulation WI budget deficit

Future Outlook

Short term Avoid picking winners/losers Level playing field to see what develops Continue to invest in the future of

energy Long term

Energy externalities will be introduced (carbon taxing, land degradation, etc.)

Large scale processes will improve Biomass energy production will

increase, but by no means will it generate the majority of energy

My Belief

Natural gas replacing coal is a good short term solution until renewable energy develops on a larger scale

Despite being more expensive, original plant plan could have proved to be a worthy investment

Wisconsin has fertile soil with high productivity in both agriculture and forestry as well as a reputation for research at UW-Madison

Using biomass would utilize what Wisconsin can produce on its own instead of looking for resources elsewhere

Questions?

References

http://www.theboldtcompany.com/press_releases/http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Charter_Street_Heating_Plant#Emissions_Datahttp://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Coal_plant_conversion_projecthttp://www.news.wisc.edu/16755www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xlshttp://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/analysis_publications/ngpipeline/TransportationCorridors.htmlhttps://fpm-http://www.nrel.gov/gis/biomass.htmlhttp://soils.usda.gov/use/worldsoils/mapindex/ http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/alternate/page/renew_energy_consump/rea_prereport.htmlhttp://psc.wi.gov/utilityInfo/gas/index-naturalGas.htm