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The
Bio-Gen Biomass Power Generation Project
(Phase I) involves construction and
operation of a privately owned and
operated 15 megawatt (MW) biomass
waste-to-energy plant in Guaimaca,
Honduras. The plant will utilize wood
wastes generated from forest products
processing in the region. The wastes,
which include sawmill and logging
residues, are currently burned under
uncontrolled conditions or disposed of in
rivers or other low-lying areas. Power
produced by the plant will be sold to the
national utility, Empresa Nacional de
Energia Electrica (ENEE), and will
displace electricity and associated
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would
have been produced by fossil-fuel burning
facilities. The plant will utilize sawmill
and logging residues for fuel, and is
expected to operate at least 7,500 hr/year
for 20 years.
Electricity
from the Bio-Gen plant will displace
electricity that would have otherwise been
generated by new fossil fuel capacity, and
thus will offset GHG emissions from fossil
fuel use. The project expects to displace
approximately 2.3 million metric tons of
CO2 emissions equivalent over the life of
the project (20 years).
In
the absence of the project, the project
developers assume that ENEE would be
required to meet the increasing energy
demand in Honduras by expanding its fossil
fuel capacity. In addition, sawmill and
logging wastewood would continue to be
disposed of through uncontrolled burning,
or dumped into rivers and low-lying areas
where it would eventually decompose.
Reference
case emission estimates are based on
emissions from a fuel oil-fired plant that
would likely be constructed in the absence
of the 15 MW Bio-Gen facility. Only CO2,
the major GHG that would be emitted, is
estimated. Because data are currently not
available on GHG emissions from
uncontrolled burning and decomposition of
wastewood in Honduras, these emissions are
not included in the reference case.
To
estimate annual CO2 emissions from the
displaced fossil fuel capacity, the
developers have assumed that approximately
260,423 lbs/hr of dry gas is emitted from
a 15 MW fuel oil-fired plant and that 13.4
percent of the dry gas emitted is CO2.
This yields a CO2 emission factor of
34,897 lbs/hr. Because the Bio-Gen plant
will operate a minimum of 7,500 hr/year,
the reference case assumes the same number
of hours of operation for the fossil fuel
plant.
Average
annual reference case emissions are
calculated by multiplying 34,897 lbs
CO2/hr by 7,500 hr/year. The result is
then converted from pounds to metric tons
by dividing by a conversion factor of 2205
lbs/t. Using this methodology, it is
estimated that 118,697 t CO2/year are
emitted due to fuel oil consumption in the
reference case, project life. |
