The possibility of a biomass-fueled heating plant for Grand Marais continues to move toward reality. On September 11, 2012, the county board approved a request from the Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP) for the use of up to $355,000 of 1 percent recreation and infrastructure sales tax revenue for pursuit of a biomass heating facility in Grand Marais.
Funding for a biomass plant was one of the projects identified in legislation approving the tax in 2009.
The money will be used for the next two steps in the process: 1) identifying and working with prospective customers to analyze the costs and benefits of hookup and operation 2) creating a final design and business plan. The first step will cost $112,000.
If the first step reveals that the project is feasible, the county will release 1 percent funding for the second step, which will cost $243,000.
A letter of support from Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission Chair Karl Hansen states, “This project has the potential to provide predictable cost, locally sourced energy to our largest users, provide needed economic development supporting local jobs with our energy dollars, and turn a waste product into a commodity. Even with all of these benefits, a decision to make an investment of this size requires substantial study. …This study is necessary to prepare information of sufficient detail to make good decisions about whether to proceed with construction.”
Earlier phases in this project involved a study on the effect of the proposed facility on the surrounding forest, which would provide the fuel, and an analysis of various sizes and locations of potential biomass plants, which determined that Grand Marais public buildings along County Road 7 and downtown businesses could make the most economically beneficial use of a district biomass heating plant.
The 1 percent application states, “Firewise supports the project, having brought it to CCLEP for their help. CCLEP has an enthusiastic project advisory board of over 40 local residents.
“…Regarding the actual construction project, which will primarily be financed by PUC [Public Utility Commission] revenue bonds, the IRRRB [Iron Range Resource and Rehabilitation Board] has expressed strong interest in providing grants and loans to facilitate construction.” Operating and maintenance expenses “will be covered by the revenues produced by the district heating system and will require no subsidy by taxpayers,” the application said.
Paul Nelson of Firewise and the Biomass Committee told the board that the research done so far indicates that a biomass plant could be economically feasible. The next step would include analyzing the cost of hooking up specific buildings. The business plan would include setting aside funds for future repairs and replacement.
Nelson said the research done so far showed that using biomass from this area would not be damaging to the forest. “In Cook County, we’re surrounded by forest,” he said. “A lot of people don’t realize our forests are in pretty bad shape and it’s getting worse.”
A lot of the wood in Cook County’s forests is too rotten to bring to the lumber market, he said.
Nelson also said they would not proceed to the final design phase if they determined that the plant would produce unacceptable levels of emissions. He commented on an August 17 Wall Street Journal article on the state of Massachusetts tightening emission standards for biomass plants. He said a lot of the plants under scrutiny were built with now-outdated technology, have efficiency levels of 25 percent (the amount of energy that is created in relation to the amount of energy that is released by burning), and produce both electricity and heat. The facility proposed for Grand Marais would not be the same as the ones discussed in the article. It would have much lower emission levels, have an efficiency level of at least 70 percent, and be designed to produce heat only.
Leave a Reply