Book Description

The California renewable energy industries have worked diligently during the past couple of years to develop public policies conducive to the future of renewable energy production within the context of electric market restructuring and the evolving competitive electric services industry. The state`s biomass power industry has organized itself as the California Biomass Energy Alliance (CBEA), and has participated vigorously in the regulatory and legislative processes. In order to reward biomass power generators for the special services they provide, CBEA has promoted the concept of providing incentives specifically targeted to biomass within the context of any renewables program enacted in the state. This concept has been embraced by the other renewables industry organizations, but resisted by the utilities. This study represents an effort to identify, characterize, ad quantify the environmental costs and benefits of biomass energy use in California, and to elucidate the future role of biomass power production within the context of the evolving deregulation of the California electricity industry. The report begins with a review of the development and growth of the California biomass power industry during the past 15 years. This is followed by an analysis of the biomass fuels market development during the same period. It examines trends in the types and costs of biomass fuels. The environmental performance of the mature California biomass energy industry is analyzed, and takes into account the environmental impacts of the industry, and the impacts that would be associated with disposing of the materials used as fuels if the biomass power industry were not in operation. The analysis is then extended to consider the environmental and economic consequences of the loss of biomass generating capacity since 1993. The report ends with a consideration of the future prospects for the industry in the context of restructuring.