Small Town News

County gets grant to study power plant possibility

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Adams County has been granted a $70,000 stimulus fund grant to pay for a study to determine the feasibility of a woody biomass burning power facility somewhere in Adams County.

The county has reason to believe that its current biomass resources are capable of supporting a 10-megawatt power facility in the region, but they feel the need to conduct a number of feasibility actions to determine the accuracy of this assumption.

The power plant would be built through a partnership between the county and a private company that would construct, own and operate the facility.

The power would be generated by woody biomass product collected on the Payette National Forest and the energy would be sold to Idaho Power.

Ten megawatts generates enough electricity to power an estimated 2,500 homes for one year.

Though they have conducted preliminary studies of biomass availability in the Payette National Forest and identified a potential site for a power plant adjacent to the Goodrich Landfill, county leaders determined that a number of actions were still needed to encourage renewable biomass energy development.

While the previous studies conducted by Siemens in 2005, identified the amount of biomass available to the region and determined that it was not feasible at the time, it is now necessary to refine those studies, as factors such as the consistency of the biomass supply and power purchase rates may have improved.

The study will be used to determine the short and long-term biomass availability on the Payette National Forest. In order for the project to be feasible, it is likely that the Forest Service will have to draft longer hazardous fuels stewardship contracts for local loggers, and ensure that there will be consistent supply to sustain a plant before those contracts are carried out.

The study will also contain groundwater supply analysis that will determine if there is sufficient water to sustain a plant, and the chemical analysis will allow potential developers to know how they would need to treat incoming water to ensure it does not harm their equipment.



Copyright 2009 The Adams County Record, Council, Idaho. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 The Adams County Record Council, Idaho. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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