Biomass Cogeneration Network- BIOCOGEN

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "Biomass Cogeneration Network- BIOCOGEN"

Transcription

1 Biomass Cogeneration Network- BIOCOGEN Ms Ioanna Papamichael, Dr Calliope Panoutsou, Mr Andrew Lamb Center for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES), Pikermi - GREECE ABSTRACT The main goal of the BIOCOGEN network was to provide technical and economic data and deal with the key issues in the implementation of biomass CHP in Europe, aiming to facilitate the aim of 26Mtoe biomass CHP installations to be reached by Among the other tasks a peer review of biomass CHP activities in EU and selected accession countries was conducted, including information on the energy sector, the existing policies and support mechanisms as well as the situation of CHP and biomass CHP. Furthermore, a database of CHP plants along with their spatial distribution was created. A detailed analysis was conducted concerning biomass CHP plants using solid biomass, in terms of fuel, technologies, plant size, construction time as well as investment costs. Finally detailed technical information was presented on selected biomass CHP plants for the participating countries. The above mentioned results of that task will be presented in the paper. 1.INTRODUCTION Biomass CHP offers many varied benefits. Prior to Biomass Cogeneration network (BIOCOGEN) project, there was no single initiative working for biomass CHP in Europe. There was a clear deficit of uniformly collected and well-structured information on biomass CHP in Europe. The main objective of the BIOCOGEN was to provide technical and economic data and deal with the key issues in the implementation of biomass CHP in Europe, aiming to facilitate: (a) the achievement of the White Paper target of 6 Mtoe of biomass fuels being used in cofiring plants by 2010, (b) the achievement of the strategic priority of 26 Mtoe in CHP installations by The results of the network ( include: Country energy & cogeneration reports Review of cogeneration plants fuelled with solid biomass Report on link to IEA work on bioenergy & climate change Task 38 Biomass cogeneration market analysis Strategic marketing plan for biomass cogeneration in Europe Flagship biomass cogeneration projects in selected European countries 2. A PEER REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES ON BIOMASS CHP IN EU AND THE PARTICIPATING EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. The review survey contains information on the energy sector of each country, the existing policies and support mechanisms for renewables and CHP as well as the situation of CHP and biomass CHP. Short description of existing biomass CHP plants, where available, is also included in the report. Data and available information on biomass CHP at national and EU level were collected from the participating institutes as well as from existing web sites, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,reviews, 8 and reports from the participating countries. 1

2 Some of the energy data of the report are given in Table 1 to indicate the situation in the European countries. Then a small review for the situation on CHP and biomass CHP for each country will be presented. Table 1: Some energy data for the European Countries 7 COUNTRY Total energy production Main fuel Biomass/ Waste Total final consumption Mtoe % % Mtoe France Nuclear: Finland 15.4 Biomass/Waste: Denmark Oil: Un.Kingdom Oil: Austria 9.5 Hydro: Sweden 34.5 Nuclear: Greece 9.99 Coal: Belgium 13.8 Nuclear: Germany Coal: Spain 30.7 Nuclear: Portugal 1.94 Biomass/Waste: Netherlands 59.1 Gas: Ireland 2.51 Peat: Luxembourg 0.05 Biomass/Waste: Italy 27.8 Gas: France: CHP represents at the present 3% of the energy production in France with about 670 installations and 5000 MW el. Biomass CHP is not well developed. The power installed in France and in its overseas territories is about 300 MW el. Biomass CHP plants are mainly implemented in France in the industrial sector. Wood residues and bark are used in the pulp and paper industries, along with black liquor, to produce steam (around 200 MWe in 10 plants), in sawmills and wood second transformation industries, as well as in district heating plants (one 2 MWe and one cofiring with coal 11MWe). 3 sugar refineries use bagasse as primary fuel in CHP (180MWe), in overseas territories of France. The plants work some part of the year on bituminous coal. Biogas from wastewater treatment is used to produce CHP for the need of the water treatment plant (on farm consumption) in about 1 MWe plants. Finland: CHP generation based on locally available fuels like wood and peat accounts for the bulk of bioenergy production in Finland. Multifuel boilers fired with peat, wood fuels, coal and natural gas are widely used. CHP is the natural choice in Finland since both heat and electricity are required in industrial as well as in municipal energy production. About 33% of electricity generated annually comes from CHP. In CHP the total efficiency is very high, 85-90% of the fuel input can be utilized. The most common fuels are natural gas 38%, coal 27%, peat 18%, oil 6%, wood and wood residues 9% and others 2%. In the future the fuel mix will change considerably. Natural gas and wood will largely substitute for coal, oil and peat. Also the use of recovered fuels has increased considerably during the last few years. Denmark: Some 227 biomass CHP plants exist in Denmark, including biogas from agricultural and organic industrial wastes (70), from sewage treatment plants (101) and landfill (9), as well as waste incineration (29), gasification (2), wood and straw steam turbine 2

3 plants (14), and even stirling enginew burning either wood or biogas. Un.Kingdom: CHP capacity in the UK reached slightly more than 4.6 GWe by the end of more than twice the capacity in place at the start of the 1990s, and just short of the last Government s target of 5 GWe by the end of the millennium. Some 628 MWe of new plant was added during The average growth rate for CHP in the 1990s was 7% per annum. The main renewable sources that are used for CHP in the UK are biofuels particularly sewage gas, other biogases, clinical waste and municipal waste, with predominant the sewage treatment sector with 1567 GWh out of a total 2202 GWh in 2001 (>70%). Main technology used is the reciprocating engines with 86 MWe out of the 104 MWe installed in Austria: The total production of CHP in Austria reaches GWh e and GWh th. CHP plants compile 68% of the heat production with natural gas as the predominant fuel. In biomass CHP some 25 units were identified ranging from demo to commercial or industrial, and from some kw to 124 MWe. Several technologies are represented, including steam turbines, organic ranking cycle, gas engines etc. Sweden: CHP plants generate 6% of total electricity production (1998) in Sweden. Industrial CHP production is based mainly on biofuels while electricity produced in DH plants is 40% coal-fired. Around 1.3 TWh were produced from biofuels in The ranking of production capacity according to variable cost yields a similar order: hydropower is the cheapest option, followed by nuclear, CHP in industry, CHP associated with district heating, coal, oil and gas turbines. District heating provide excellent conditions for biomass fuelled CHP. However, due to low electricity prices for several decades and the favour of fossil fuels i.e. coal in electricity production this potential is not fully used. The past years Sweden has faced increasing electricity prices, which may put focus on investments in CHP again. Greece: In 2000, the installed electric capacity of the CHP was 708 MW e, with electricity production amounting to 3122 GWh and heat production to 1103 TJ. In 2001, generation licenses were granted for the construction of 400 MW e of CHP capacity including small and large plants. Most of the CHP units operating in Greece today are industrial power plants burning oil. A few units operated by PPC, burn lignite and provide DH in the northern part of the country. Considering biomass CHP, only biogas from sewage plants and a landfill site is exploited for CHP MW e are already installed, while future projects for another 83.2 MW e from biomass CHP have already acquired power production permits. Belgium: In the last decade, the number of CHP units in Belgium increased from 72 in 1991 to 216 in These include large CHP plants built by power companies and many small units of MW e installed in the industrial and commercial sectors, mainly in chemical industries. Electrabel and SPE operate 22 units, corresponding to 648 MW e capacity in The only biomass-fuelled CHP unit identified in this project was an anaerobic fermentation plant of organic wastes. Germany: In 2000, Germany was the largest CHP electricity producer (60.8 TWh, 18.7 GW) and by far the largest CHP heat producer (452 PJ, 40.8 GW). Steam backpressure turbine plants have the largest share of CHP electricity generation (47.) and more than half of the CHP electricity was generated in public supply plants. There are many biomass CHP units in Germany, mostly situated in Bavaria, ranging from some kwe to 10 MWe, fuelled by different fuels including biogas, wood and straw, vegetable oil etc. Spain: Thanks to the financial incentives provided under the special system, CHP increased rapidly in Spain in the 1990s (370 MW e at the end of 1990, almost 5000 MW e in 2000). Natural gas is the most commonly used fuel, covering 72% of total CHP generation, followed by oil (25%) and other fuels (3%). The majority of the installations are based on the reciprocating engine (76%), but some plants based on gas turbines (2) and steam turbines (3%) have been commissioned. 3

4 Portugal: Cogeneration capacity increased in Portugal from about 600 MWe in 1990 to about 900 MWe in Generation amounted to about 4.5 TWh in 1998, including 3.2 TWh in autoconsumption. Internal combustion engines contribute the most to CHP electricity generation with a share of 40.9% and the share of renewables is rather high (37.6%) since the most common fuel is residual fuel oil. Energy from renewable sources is promoted through grants and zero-interest loans, and is also sold to REN under a favourable buy-back tariff. Electricity production from biomass and waste increased from 689 GWh in 1990 to 1,023 GWh in Netherlands: The Netherlands is the second largest generator (33.7 TWh of CHP electricity) with 9.1 GW installed CHP electrical capacity. Shares of CHP electricity are also high in the Netherlands at 37.6%. They also recorded high CHP heat generation figures (233 PJ) in The share of CHP electricity generated in combined cycle plants is high (79.6%) and natural gas is clearly the predominant fuel (63.6%).In the Netherlands generation is very often divided into a centralised and a decentralised segment. The centralised segment comprises what is generally known as the public generation market. The decentralised segment essentially refers to the market for CHP production. This market is comparatively large and still growing, due to government intervention. In addition, there is a small amount of renewable capacity. The most important in this respect are waste incinerators. Decentralised CHP producers supply about half of their generation to the public grid. Luxembourg: In Luxembourg, the electricity production in 1999 from CHP was GWh. CHP is well implemented, meeting continuous growth since the late eighties. If only indigenous production is taken into account, CHP stands for a high share, 58.5% of the own electricity production, but Luxembourg has to import about 95% of its electricity needs. Therefore, the positive government attitude towards CHP and renewables is not surprising. All CHP production is due to autoproducer plants. Natural gas is clearly the predominant fuel (99.6%). In 2000, 30 CHP/district heating stations were in operation, almost totally fuelled with natural gas. The exploitation of renewables and waste incineration is practically nonexistent. In 2000, there were 3 industrial installations in operation with an electricity capacity of 26.7MW e. Small- scale CHP consists exclusively of reciprocating engines, none of which has a capacity greater than 1.5 MW e. By 2000, there were a total of 32 such installations (at least 7433 kw e ), mostly injecting into the public electricity net. Ireland: There were 53 CHP plants in Ireland at the end of 1997, with a total installed capacity of 86.65MW. Gas turbines with heat recovery dominate CHP electricity generation (66.8%). Autoproducer plants have more than 90% share and natural gas is clearly the predominant fuel (74.). There is no biomass CHP in Ireland. Italy: CHP plants in Italy are mainly owned by large energy, steel and chemical industries. ENEL, the main electricity generator in Italy, has never realised CHP plants. Italy is a major CHP generator, producing more than 20 TWh in 2000 (12.0 GW). It recorded also high CHP heat generation figures (216 PJ, 27.8 GW. The share of CHP electricity generated in combined cycle plants is high in Italy (37.9%) but the efficiency is below 60%. Natural gas was clearly the predominant fuel (62.7%) with biogas from landfills and municipal wastewater treatment plants coming second. Other fuel types have altogether a share of less than 6%. 3. SOLID BIOMASS CHP IN EUROPE In the framework of the BIOCOGEN network project a detailed analysis concerning 157 biomass CHP plants using solid biomass was conducted by the Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbh (AU). The analysis is presented in terms of fuel, technologies, 4

5 plant size, construction time as well as investment costs. Germany and Austria are the most dominating countries with a considerable number of CHP plants. In Figure 1 the share of existing solid biomass CHP plants is given. The steam cycle systems with steam turbine and steam engine are the most dominating technology. The reason is that the steam cycle is more or less the only currently commercially available technologies for solid biomass CHP. In Figure 2 the technologies for the solid biomass CHP plants are shown. Most of the plants are commercial, but also a considerable number of them has a demonstration and pilot character. The demonstration and pilot CHP plants are mainly investigating new CHP technologies like organic Rankine cycle, hot air turbine or Stirling engine. Most of the installed electric power is lower than 5 MW el, even a significant number of CHP plants have an electric power of less than 1 MW el. In Figure 3 the installed electric power of the biomass CHP plants with solid biomass are shown. The most dominating solid biomass fuel is wood chips from forestry and saw mill residues, whereas bark, paper sludge and waste wood is also relevant. In Figure 4 the share of the different solid biomass fuels is shown. UK 2% Turkey France Slovenia 4% Portugal Italy Holland Sweden 2% Denmark 9% Finland 12% Austria 22% Germany 44% Fig. 1 Distribution of plants (total number 122) Gas engine Gas turbine 9% Hot air engine Other 2% Stirling engine 3% ORC 7% Steam Engine 18% Steam turbine 59% Fig 2 Distribution of technologies for the solid biomass CHP plants 5

6 Bark 8% Straw 4% Peat 3% Other 16% Waste wood 4% Paper sludge 4% Woodchips (saw industry) 23% Woodchips (forest residues) 38% Fig. 1 Distribution of fuel for the solid biomass CHP plants >20 MWel 20% unknown 8% <1 MWel 28% 5-20 MWel 25% 1-5 MWel 19% Fig. 1 Distribution of capacity for the solid biomass CHP plants 4. REFERENCES District Heat in Europe Survey, Euroheat & Power, April Jungmeier, G., et al: 2 nd World Conference and Technology Exhibition on Biomass for Energy, Industry and Climate Protection, Rome, Italy, May To be published 6