Biomass power is the use of biomass to generate electricity. These technologies include direct firing, cofiring, gasification, anaerobic digestion and other technologies. While many biomass power plants today use direct-fired systems, more advanced approaches—many including combined heat and power—are being deployed worldwide. In combined heat and power (CHP) systems, for example, a power plant's spent steam is also used for manufacturing processes and/or building heat, boosting the overall efficiency of the system.
While many of today's biomass power plants are small, industrial cogeneration or heating applications, utility-scale plants with capacities in excess of 80 megawatts have been commissioned. That's not all. In Brazil, the United States and other nations, biofuels plants are becoming true biorefineries, incorporating the production of fuels, chemicals and power at a single location.
With massive government investments in green infrastructure and renewable energy expected to take place in the United States, interest in biomass power is on the rise. Although the primary driver to consider biomass power has been its potential to lower heat and power production costs, the anticipation of global carbon markets and renewable power mandates is spurring a new wave of investment in this sector. These facilities can generate electricity at any time, unlike most other renewable sources of energy. In the United States, biomass power plants currently represent 11,000 megawatts of capacity, the second largest amount of renewable energy in the nation.