Dutch Delta to power 90,000 homes with biomass
Delta, a Dutch utility company, uses a variety of renewable energy sources one of which is the largest biomass power plant in the world. This power plant uses chicken manure as its biomass source thus not only making power but getting rid of the polluting waste.
According to Inhabitat, Delta’s new plant in Moerdijk, will generate 36.5 MW at capacity or 270 million KWH, able to power 90,000 homes while disposing of 440,000 tons chicken manure. This biomass plant will "run exclusively on chicken manure" which presumably means that manure from other animals will still need processing by other methods.
Chicken waste in the Netherlands has been an ongoing expensive problem both in methane pollution of the atmosphere and in previously non-productive disposal costs. This plant will also use the produced ash from the burning of the manure in compost so that all of the chicken waste disposed of productively.
As reported last month, China has also opened a chicken waste biomass plant. That plant only generates 14,600 MWH from 220 tons of manure and 170 tons of waste water a day.
Who would have thought that chickens in the Netherlands produced more waste than Chinese chickens. Maybe the Netherlands is just more efficient in its ability to collect and use what chicken waste is produced. As a much smaller country, transporting chicken waste from one part of the country to another involves less distance and difficulty.
Most North American biomass power plants use plant based material either from "construction/demolition" waste, agricultural waste or crops grown specifically for the purpose of creating biofuels/biomass. All in all biomass power plants in America generate only 11,000 MWH, much less than either China or the Netherlands.
As in most renewable energy areas, America lags behind the rest of the world in implementation. Although many advances in various forms of renewable energy and biofuels have been engineered here, overall, little of it has been adopted widely across the country. Most of the emphasis on fuels for power plants is still concentrated on the use of coal.
A few areas like Nellis Airforce Base and Sacramento Municipal Utility have adopted large solar and wind installations respectively, to generate power. Most large renewable energy projects are scheduled either on the West Coast or in the Mid-West.
Building animal excrement biomass plants is expensive. The plant in Moerdijk cost 150 million Euros or $214 million. Without a coordinated effort within states, counties or the country to build and collect the animal waste from farms, such a plant will never be seen in America.
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