Standard contract for biomass will contribute to renewable energy goals

ROSEMEAD, California, USA, July 11, 2007. An electric utility in California has issued a ‘Biomass Standard Contract’ to assist smaller generators in providing green power to the state grid.

Southern California Edison, which claims to be the leading purchaser of renewable energy in the United States, launched the initiative to help small biomass projects. Until now, generators with less than 1 MW of capacity had “limited opportunities to sell their energy” and the utility says its standard contract will provide a “faster, simpler way” for biomass projects under 20 MW to sell their power to utility customers.

SCE will offer three contract options for projects with less than 1 MW of capacity, 1 to 5 MW, and 5 to 20 MW, with contract terms of 10, 15 or 20 years. It plans to accept 250 MW of new biomass capacity through the new program subject to approval by the California Public Utilities Commission.

“Meeting California’s aggressive renewable energy and environmental goals will require bold, innovative ideas,” says Stuart Hemphill of SCE. “Long before there was a California renewable portfolio standard or state legislation reducing GHG emissions, SCE committed itself to pursuing such innovations, beginning with the company’s pledge in 1980 to devote our resources to the accelerated development of renewable power sources.”

Each MW of capacity is sufficient power to serve 650 homes at one point in time.

“Governor Schwarzenegger asked our industry to find ways to step up the use of the state’s renewable biomass resources to generate electricity,” explains Pedro Pizarro of SCE. “We believe this innovative approach will do just that, prompting many small biomass generators to join California’s growing renewable energy industry.”

The governor’s executive order, issued in April 2006, said “abundant biomass resources from agriculture, forestry and urban wastes can be tapped to provide transportation fuels and electricity to satisfy California’s fuel and energy needs.” The order set a target of acquiring a sizeable part of the state’s total green power goal from biomass energy.

The California Energy Commission’s Biomass Resource Assessment, issued in April 2005, estimated the state has 4,700 MW of potential biofuel energy, enough power to serve 3 million homes. Biomass projects eligible for SCE’s new standard contracts include landfill gas, municipal solid waste, wood, fuel cell, digester gas and sewer gas.

The biomass program is targeted to promote the objectives of the executive order, which specifically focuses on promoting biomass projects. The Small Generating Interconnection Procedure is available only to facilities sized less than 20 MW but larger facilities can submit proposals to SCE’s Renewable Portfolio Standard solicitations.

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