December 25, 2006—A 50-megawatt power plant that used to be fueled with coal is now running entirely on wood chips, according to the Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH)
PSNH announced in December that its $75 million “Northern Wood Power Project” is in service, providing power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses throughout the state.
The rebuilt Schiller Station plant, which PSNH says is one of the nation’s largest new renewable energy projects, reportedly avoids the burning of 130,000 tons of coal each year, replacing it with about 400,000 tons of wood from local resources. According to PSNH, the wood-fueled boiler will emit only one-quarter of the nitrous oxides and only two percent of the sulfur dioxide that was emitted by the coal plant.
The project includes a storage facility capable of holding about 10,000 tons of wood chips, a wood-fuel delivery system, and a 110-foot-high boiler.
More information on the project is available from PSNH.
