Planned Biomass Power Plant in Massachusetts Cancelled after State Tightens Regulations

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--After seven years of planning and having been in a holding pattern since 2009, Russell Biomass LLC's (Russell, Massachusetts) proposed 50-megawatt (MW) biomass power plant project has been cancelled and deemed "technically unfeasible." The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) finalized the Massachusetts Renewable Portfolio Standard Class I regulations for biomass eligibility after more than two years of evaluation and heated debate.

The new standards require biomass plants to generate power at a minimum of 50% efficiency to receive half of a renewable energy credit (REC) and 60% efficiency to receive a full REC. The previous requirements required a 25% efficiency rating.

This could be bad news for other biomass-to-energy projects developing in Massachusetts and for existing operating biomass energy facilities.

Russell Biomass had received most of the air permits and had brought Waldron Engineering & Construction Incorporated (Hampton, New Hampshire) onboard to construct the estimated $150 million project. But the state will not subsidize the biomass plant without the 50% efficiency rating.

It is not known if the company will pursue the project in another state.

For now, other biomass energy projects are still moving ahead. Palmer Renewable Energy is planning a 35-MW biomass plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, that is scheduled to begin construction in June of next year.

Irish firm Imperative Energy Limited (Maynooth, Kildare, Ireland) is planning a small, 4-MW, combined heat and power project in Taunton, Massachusetts. The project is still in the feasibility stages of development, and it is not clear if the new regulations will kill this project as well.

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