Biomass plant plan triggers questions

From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A proposal by We Energies to generate power by burning waste wood at a Wisconsin paper mill comes at a time when the paper industry and environmentalists have raised concerns about another wood-burning power plant in northern Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee utility this month said it wants to build a $250 million power plant near Wausau in Rothschild that would generate 50 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 40,000 homes.

The biomass project is in response to the state's renewable energy mandate that requires 10% of Wisconsin's electricity to come from wind turbines, solar panels and other renewable sources by 2015.

Plans for another project in Ashland on Lake Superior have raised concerns about the impact of the plant on the state's papermaking industry.

The Wisconsin Paper Council and the Flambeau River Papers in Park Falls have raised concerns about plans by Xcel Energy Corp. to convert a coal-fired boiler in Ashland to burn wood.

If approved by state regulators, the Ashland site would become the biggest biomass power plant in the Midwest, Xcel said last year.

The Clean Wisconsin environmental group sought a review of the Ashland plant to determine the impact on northern forests and greenhouse gas emissions.

And Flambeau River Papers of Park Falls raised questions about whether the Xcel project would raise prices for wood that would be used in a bio-refinery that Flambeau intends to build to make biodiesel and wax.