[EQAB-list] ORNL Biomass generation article

[Fred L Stephens]

Steam Plant To Be Replaced By Biomass

(from http://www.timberbuysell.com/Community/DisplayNews.asp?id=3182)


$88.1 million ORNL project includes efficiency efforts

By Larisa Brass
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

An $88.1 million plan to replace its steam plant with one fueled by 
wood chips and launch a comprehensive program of energy efficiency 
improvements puts Oak Ridge National Laboratory at the forefront of a 
greening trend moving across all business sectors.

That's according to the company that's helping get the job done.

Iain Campbell, vice president at Johnson Controls, a Milwaukee, 
Wis.-based firm that is managing and financing the initiative, along 
with other company and ORNL officials, stood in front of the lab's 
antiquated steam plant Monday to tout the project that was announced 
by the Department of Energy last week.

It is the largest of four such efforts being rolled out at national 
laboratories across the country. DOE has mandated a reduction of 
energy consumption by 30 percent and water consumption by 16 percent 
at its facilities by the end of fiscal year 2009.

At ORNL, the new system and other improvements are expected to reduce 
energy consumption by 50 percent and water usage by 23 percent. The 
system will reduce fossil fuel consumption by more than 80 percent. 
That's the equivalent of pulling 2.1 million cars off the road every 
year - or planting 32 million trees, according to figures provided by ORNL.

In exceeding energy savings goals set by DOE, ORNL is "charting a 
course for others to follow," Campbell said at the event.

The biggest component of the project at ORNL is a $40 million super 
boiler to be fueled by waste wood and wood products rather than the 
natural gas and heating oil used now.

The new boiler system will require construction of two new buildings, 
a 10,000-square-foot structure for the boiler system and another 
14,000-square-foot facility for handling the biomass. Both buildings 
will be located on the central campus behind the lab's existing steam 
plant, also to be refurbished as part of the project.

Wood that will fuel the Cleaver Brook super boiler will come from 
suppliers within a 50-mile radius of ORNL. The boiler will use waste 
wood products only, said David Peters with Johnson Controls. That 
could include waste tree bark from timber mills or refuse from pallet 
manufacturers.

Peters said Johnson Controls conducted a study to determine which 
biomass sources were most readily available and if enough could be 
procured to operate the plant. The biomass supply contracts will be 
managed by the lab.

The project is expected to generate at least $8 million in energy 
cost savings per year. Under terms of the 18-year financing 
arrangement, that savings will go to Johnson Controls to pay for the 
improvements.

Other savings from reduced maintenance and operations on the new 
system are expected, said Jeff Smith, ORNL deputy for operations.

For example, the new system will eliminate the steam line to the High 
Flux Isotope Reactor, saving the cost of maintaining the line.

"Those are the kinds of efficiencies that we'll benefit from," Smith 
said, although he did not have an exact dollar figure on the savings .

Design for the new boiler system is under way, and construction is 
expected to be completed in 30 months.

Other components of the contract include decentralization of the 
steam system, advanced electricity metering and energy awareness 
training, lighting upgrades, water conservation, mechanical upgrades 
and energy surveys. The payback periods for the specific projects 
vary from one to just over 17 years, with an average payback of about 11 years.

ORNL's impetus to launch the rigorous improvement effort came not 
only from DOE's new efficiency requirements but also from the 
agency's willingness to allow the work to be done through third-party 
financing, said ORNL Director Thom Mason.

Mason characterized the contract with Johnson Controls as the same 
type of third-party financing that allowed ORNL to construct several 
new buildings on its central campus.

"It's very hard to go to Congress to say we need this money" for 
infrastructure improvements, Mason said.

Campbell said the contract with DOE for ORNL is one of its larger 
projects, although the company has installed similar biomass-fueled 
systems at the University of South Carolina and at a Johnson Controls 
manufacturing facility in Denmark.

The public sector is taking the lead in energy savings investments 
because governments can accommodate longer payback periods than 
commercial sectors such as retail, Campbell said. That, in turn, is 
driving down the cost of the technology so that other industries can 
follow suit.

"They have facilities they know are going to be there for a long 
time," Campbell said. "The government is really leading the way."



Fred L Stephens
email: FredStephens at gmail.com