Biomass-Fired Power Plant Starting up at Domtar's Rothschild Mill
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Construction of a new, $268 million biomass-fired power plant at Domtar's Rothschild, Wis., USA, mill is nearing completion, with testing of the generator beginning this week. The new boiler will burn 500,000 tons of biomass per year. The biomass will come from within 75 miles of Rothschild, culled from forests (wood removed from the forest floor after logging operations) and sawmills in northern Wisconsin. The boiler will also burn wood wastes from the mill's processes.
The project, which got underway in 2011, is expected to burn 500,000 tons of biomass a year, generating power around the clock. The electricity will be sold to the local We Energies utility, with excess steam being used by the mill. The mill actually will purchase the steam from We Energies. This allows Domtar to shut down its existing steam generation facilities and buy steam at a lower cost.
Although the total price tag for the project is $268 million, a federal grant that is expected to be awarded next year will trim that by about $80 million, according to an article by the Milwaukee, Wis.-based Journal Sentinel.
The power plant, to be supervised by a We Energies manager and run by 30 Domtar employees, is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year, and generate enough power to supply 32,000 homes.
The mill began testing of the new boiler using natural gas as its fuel. It will soon begin test-firing using wood materials.
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