Power grid resiliency is a persistent concern among utility providers and other stakeholders in the energy industry. Numerous emerging factors include the growing reliance on electric vehicles and the increasing frequency of new construction projects in the data center sector. As they consider various options, many professionals conclude that integrating biomass into traditional infrastructure could bring the necessary enhancement.
Saving Money While Increasing Uptime
Many people do not realize how much they rely on electricity until it is suddenly unavailable. Those outages cause inconveniences and may risk lives, particularly when they occur during temperature extremes. Biomass projects provide viable alternatives.
One example from a rural Alaskan village involves a school with heating that runs on wood chips from locally harvested trees. This initiative allows educational administrators to offset approximately 100,000 gallons of diesel per year within the school district and city.
It has also created a job base and local workforce, resulting in economic gains that keep more money within the community. As an example, school officials can hire more certified professionals for trade jobs when their facilities need repairs or maintenance. This project demonstrates how biomass grid enhancement efforts offer multiple benefits for the electrical infrastructure and those who rely on it.
Biomass energy also minimizes instances of usable resources sent to landfills, reducing the nearly 300 million tons of municipal solid waste generated in the U.S. yearly.
Enabling Strategic Upgrades
Whether executives must upgrade transformers or pursue other solutions, creative problem-solving gets meaningful results and supports sustainability goals. One of Western Canada’s top oil producers focused on the natural gas extracted during processes at an Alberta oil field. Burning it is one common option, but these leaders sought a more eco-friendly method.
They ultimately relied on an external service provider to assist in a project that produced electricity to sell back to the grid. This project resulted in infrastructure with a combined capacity of nearly 5 megawatts that simultaneously met cost-efficiency goals.
Another example comes from Namibia, where the national utility has begun constructing a new power station to facilitate cost-effective production of baseload electricity. The project involves a substantial loan from the French development agency to build and operate the infrastructure. Entities have also signed wood chip fuel supply contracts for the 40-megawatt project.
Authorities believe that this effort will strengthen grid resilience by allowing operators to increase their dependence on renewable sources. They also view this progress as aligned with determinations from government energy authorities and the mining industry concerning new energy generation capacities. Besides increasing supply security, this project will enhance self-sufficiency and bolster renewable energy commitments.
Prioritizing Grid Longevity and Modernization
Leaders have numerous avenues to explore when updating energy infrastructure, including maintaining the transformers and other essential equipment and installing technologies such as smart sensors to boost overall asset visibility and condition monitoring. However, as these examples demonstrate, authorities should also investigate how biomass might fit into potential or confirmed projects.
Incorporating biomass into the existing infrastructure takes time and financial resources, but impactful results set strong examples for others to follow, proving that energy operators can become more sustainable through strategic planning that aligns with organizational goals.