Nacogdoches Wood-Fired Power Project, United States of America

The Nacogdoches power plant is a wood-fired power-generation facility located in Sacul, Texas, about 230 miles from Austin. Southern Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, bought it from American Renewables on 9 October 2009.

The plant will have an installed capacity of 100MW, sufficient to power 70,000 homes, and can offset up to 300,000t of carbon each year. The project's ground-breaking ceremony took place in November 2009. Scheduled to be completed in 32 months, the biomass plant will begin commercial operations by mid 2012. When complete, it will be the largest biomass-fuelled electricity-generating facility in the US.

The project is a part of Texas's goal to generate 30% of Austin's electricity through renewable sources by 2020. To achieve its objective, state-owned Austin Energy had signed a 20-year power to purchase an agreement with Nacogdoches Power LLC, a joint venture of American Renewables, for $2.3m on 29 August 2009. The plant is estimated to cost $475m to $500m. The project will earn renewable energy credits under Texas laws and public utility commission rules, and help meet 5,880MW of the renewable generation target by 2015, as outlined in the Texas Senate Bill 20 passed in July 2005.

Nacogdoches wood-fired power project

The Nacogdoches power plant is being built on a 165-acre site surrounded by forest and wood-processing facilities. Waste wood for the plant will be procured from the surrounding area within a 75-mile radius.

The plant will house a wood-handling feed system, wood-fired system generator, a condensing steam turbine generator with an evaporating cooling water and auxiliary support equipment. It will employ the latest boiler and emissions control technology.

The steam turbine generator will be a bubbling fluidised bed (BFB) boiler, equipped with particulate emissions abatement. The plant will also deploy a selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) system to control NOx.

Development

The project was conceived by Energy Management Inc. and Bay Corp. Holdings when the companies jointly purchased an obsolete gas-fired plant. The joint venture was named Nacogdoches Power LLC.

In October 2008, Tyr Energy joined Nacogdoches Power to form American Renewables to build and operate biomass generation plants. Tyr Energy provided the development capital for Nacogdoches Power. EPC contracts and necessary permits were obtained by March 2007.

Contracts

Southern Power has appointed Fagen Inc. for engineering, procurement and construction of the Nacogdoches power plant. Minneapolis-based Zachry Engineering has been sub-contracted by Fagen Inc. to provide overall site design, balance of plant engineering and design coordination.

Fagen Inc. has joined Charlotte's Metso Power, Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas and Wolf Material Handling Systems for the project completion.

Metso Power will supply, erect and commission the biomass boiler with BFB.

Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, will manufacture the steam turbine.

Wolf Material Handling Systems will be responsible for the design, engineering, supply and commissioning of the biomass fuel-handling system, which includes receiving trucks loaded with waste wood, processing, storage, reclaiming and delivery of fuel to the boiler.

Texas power market

Texas leads the nation in fossil fuel and crude oil reserves. It has a quarter and three tenths of the total oil and natural gas reserves, respectively, in the US. It also has the potential for renewable energy generation, with wind, solar and biomass resources.

Texas produces and consumes more electricity than any other state in the US. It has a high per capita residential use, due to the high demand for electric air-conditioning during summer months and electric heaters in the winter.

Despite large interstate electricity imports, Texas's power grid is isolated from the integrated power systems catering for the eastern and western states, and, as a result, the state's ability to import and export electricity is hampered.

To overcome the situation, Texas has adopted a law that requires, as of 2005, 5% of the state's total demand (that is 5,880MW) to be generated from renewable sources by 2015. The new law also sets a target of 10,000MW of renewable generation by 2025, including 500MW from non-wind generation sources.