Comparing the life cycle costs of using harvest residue as feedstock for small- and large-scale bioenergy systems (part II)

Julian Cleary, Derek P. Wolf and John P. Caspersen

Energy, 2015, vol. 86, issue C, 539-547

Abstract: In part II of our two-part study, we estimate the nominal electricity generation and GHG (greenhouse gas) mitigation costs of using harvest residue from a hardwood forest in Ontario, Canada to fuel (1) a small-scale (250 kWe) combined heat and power wood chip gasification unit and (2) a large-scale (211 MWe) coal-fired generating station retrofitted to combust wood pellets. Under favorable operational and regulatory conditions, generation costs are similar: 14.1 and 14.9 cents per kWh (c/kWh) for the small- and large-scale facilities, respectively. However, GHG mitigation costs are considerably higher for the large-scale system: $159/tonne of CO2 eq., compared to $111 for the small-scale counterpart. Generation costs increase substantially under existing conditions, reaching: (1) 25.5 c/kWh for the small-scale system, due to a regulation mandating the continual presence of an operating engineer; and (2) 22.5 c/kWh for the large-scale system due to insufficient biomass supply, which reduces plant capacity factor from 34% to 8%. Limited inflation adjustment (50%) of feed-in tariff rates boosts these costs by 7% to 11%. Results indicate that policy generalizations based on scale require careful consideration of the range of operational/regulatory conditions in the jurisdiction of interest. Further, if GHG mitigation is prioritized, small-scale systems may be more cost-effective.

Keywords: Bioenergy; Biomass; GHG mitigation; Harvest residue; Life cycle costing; Scale (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:86:y:2015:i:c:p:539-547

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.057

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