U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford are among guests scheduled to attend a groundbreaking Monday for a $795 million biomass steam-generating station at Savannah River Site.
The plant, to be built by Ameresco Federal Solutions Inc. of Knoxville, Tenn., will burn 322,000 tons of wood products and shredded tires a year but emit less pollution than the aging coal-fired facility it will replace, according to the Energy Department.
In addition to generating 20 megawatts of electricity, it will produce steam for other purposes, including the transfer of waste and operation of temperature controls in nuclear-ventilation systems.
The plant, announced in May, will be built in F Area, near the center of the site, and is scheduled to open by December 2011, after which a coal-fired steam-generating plant in D Area will be decommissioned, a department spokesman said.
Biomass facilities typically burn timber, pallets, forestry debris and similar material to produce energy.
The new SRS plant is designed to allow as much as 30 percent of its fuel to come from "finely shredded tires."
Much of the timber residue will come from outside SRS, meaning a new market for waste forest products could be established.
The steam-generating plant will be the government's largest, though there is a larger private one in Virginia, according to an Energy Department fact sheet.
Estimates indicate the project will save $34 million a year in energy, operation and maintenance costs and reduce air emissions, including 100,000 tons of greenhouse gas annually.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and U.S. Reps. Jim Clyburn, Joseph Wilson and John Barrow are also scheduled to attend the groundbreaking
没有评论:
发表评论