ELECTRICITY FROM BIOMASS IN THE UNITED-STATES - STATUS AND FUTURE-DIRECTION

The biomass power industry in the United States has grown from less th an 200 MW in 1979 to more than 6000 MW in 1990, primarily as a result of the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. The United St ates Department of Energy (USDOE) is projecting installed capacity wil l grow to about 22 GW by the year 2010, with environmental considerati ons (carbon dioxide neutrality, low sulfur dioxide emissions and low n itrogen oxides emissions) being the primary driving force. The primary conversion technologies being developed in the United States are gasi fication-combined cycle systems, pyrolysis oil-combined cycle systems, and advanced direct combustion systems. The USDOE program has the obj ective of reducing the risks associated with commercializing new techn ologies and feedstocks for power production. The program is divided in to two areas: research and development and systems analysis. The major research and development program is in the area of hot-gas cleanup, w hile the systems analysis area is concentrating on gasifier scale-up a nd site-specific commercial feasibility studies.