What Types of Fuels Are Burned in Woody Biomass Power Plant and from Where Are They Gathered?

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to clarify the fuel procurement range of woody biomass power plants and the shape of the fuel, and to determine whether the fuel is actually sufficient or not. To realize the above objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted for power plants using wood-based fuels, excluding the ones using only general waste. The results show that some plants of which the rated outputs are less than 10 MW can procure from only the located prefecture, whereas the plants having higher outputs can procure from overseas. The result shows that when the rated output becomes 1 MW or more, cases of fuel procurement extending beyond the prefecture will increase. The rated output of 5 MW is the minimum scale to ensure power generation efficiency and may require fuel procurement outside the prefecture. Therefore, if such plants operate in each prefecture, fuel procurement may become competitive and difficult. In addition, the solid fuel mostly comes in the form of chips, and the amount of unutilized wood procurement is smaller than planned. With these facts, it is predicted that the price of unutilized wood chips will increase, and from our results such a trend might be seen; however, no such trend could be found from published statistical data.