June 2, 2003—St. Paul Cogeneration, based in Minnesota, has announced that its combined heat and power plant is now in full operation providing electricity to Xcel Energy and hot water to District Energy. The new biomass plant, under construction since September 2001, has been operating in test mode since mid-February in preparation for permanent operations.
Cinergy Solutions Inc., responsible for the design and construction of this state-of-the-art facility, built the biomass-based combined heat and power plant in less than eighteen months.
The new plant produces both heat and electricity, making it more than twice as efficient as plants that only generate electricity. It is fueled primarily by clean wood waste. Projected to burn 280,000 tons of wood waste annually, it will be the largest wood-fired combined heat and power plant supplying a district energy system in the United States. Xcel Energy will purchase 25 megawatts of electricity produced at the plant, enough energy to supply approximately 20,000 homes. In addition, efficient thermal energy will supply approximately 80 percent of the annual needs for the District Energy system, which is currently fueled primarily by coal. District Energy provides heating and cooling services to the majority of buildings in the downtown St. Paul area.
