Hurt: Feel the Squeeze

by Jim Hurt (Rutland Herald) ... Case in point, Vermont imports about 80% of its electricity and runs two, old, small, inefficient wood plants, McNeil and Ryegate. These plants burn chips from whole logs but can burn pellets made from farm and lumber waste. They can also burn sustainable biofuels or synfuels made from CO2. As it is, they are losing several $ million and emit over 600,000 tons of CO2 per year. That’s most of the CO2 the VT Climate Council should want to ‘reduce’ after setbacks to the Clean Heat Standard, EV stations and the Transportation & Climate Initiative. These programs deserve completion, not cancellation.

Fortunately, a multi-system upgrade can double the efficiency of McNeil and Ryegate (now only 24%), increase output substantially and accrue valuable carbon credits. McNeil can actually become profitable by capturing CO2 at emission point and removing it from the atmosphere to make synthetic fuels and feedstocks, detailed below. Pioneers in these related fields include Klaus Lackner at AU, Jennifer Holmgren at LanzaTech, Michael Graetzel at EPFL, Robert Service at AAAS and many companies like Carbon Clean, SkyNano and Aker Solutions.

Accordingly, the World Bank, commercial banks, institutional investors, state agencies and strategic investment firms should design a specific loan package with and for investor-owned utilities and other owners such as rural cooperatives and state power authorities. The goal is to finance the commercial transformation of old inefficient power plants into profitable, negative emission, power & storage stations. This multi-system approach fully utilizes the existing plant but with four main improvements.

First, waste heat from the stack, waste steam from the turbine and high temperature heat pumps can preheat boiler water to at least double the thermal efficiency of McNeil and Ryegate, now only 24-25%.

Second, sustainable biofuels can gradually replace fossil fuels or chips from over logged forests. Thanks to faster photosynthesis, C4 crops rapidly remove CO2 from air.

Third, the exhaust system incorporates CO2 capture & reuse capacity to ‘reduce’ emissions and to produce synthetic fuels and feedstocks from CO2 and water. Said feedstocks include graphite for graphene or calcium carbonate for concrete and fertilizers - all in high demand. New catalysts turn CO2 with H2O into H2 and/or synthetic fuels, such as methane, methanol, ethanol, gasoline or diesel. These synfuels can augment fuel supply to the furnace by over 20% or be sold as low carbon fuels. The green icing comes from verified CO2 reductions, traded as carbon credits or RECs on the Voluntary and Compliance Carbon Markets

Fourth, these redesigned power & storage stations will also ‘remove’ from air most of the CO2 they emitted before through the miracle of C4 photosynthesis, thereby earning more carbon offsets. Most farmers, especially dairy farmers, want new cash crops. Fossil fuels and chips from whole logs can be replaced with biofuels from C4 crops like sorghum, millet, maize, hemp, amaranth, and switchgrass from local agrivoltaic farms. C4 crops remove CO2 from air with great efficiency, are good for soil and mitigate erosion in keeping with Land Conservation Act 59. Local agrivoltaic farms can supply biofuels to the furnaces and PV watts to the switching yards of McNeil and Ryegate. Farmers reap two crops at once.

Now comes the Velerity Report, commissioned by McNeil’s owner, the Burlington Electric Dept. They propose using pyrolysis with combined cycle gas turbine generators that run on syngas. Indeed, pyrolysis of waste wood, crop stems and manure for syngas and biochar will boost dual-purpose cover crops (food or biofuel), cited above.

However the use of gas turbines raises the same air quality issues that have spawned rebellions across the country against giant data centers. Ironically, Musk and Nvidia can profit even more by developing local agrivoltaic farms that clear the air, grow biofuel, collect photons and offsets while increasing output at lower cost than dirty turbines. Gas turbines emit NOX, VOCs, CO, CO2, CH4 & PM. Therefore, CO2 scrubbers are essential to this plan as Velerity has proposed for McNeil. The same approach can be applied to power plants and data centers everywhere.

It’s time to stop flirting with nuclear and get behind sustainable forestry, sustainable biofuels, agrivoltaic farming and negative carbon emissions. We can double the efficiency of old plants and make them ‘carbon negative’ too.

The Governor, Climate Council, Green Mountain Power, Efficiency Vermont and the VT Agency of Natural Resources can still lead the way. Many Republicans, most Democrats and even some Progressives will vote for a lucrative, free market, CO2 solution that creates lots of construction, forestry and farm jobs. READ MORE