Biomass plant developers propose changes

The developers of the proposed North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project are making changes to its 35 megawatt project.

Published April 19, 2012 in the Rutland Herald
Biomass plant developers propose changes

By SUSAN SMALLHEER
Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD -- The developers of the proposed wood-fired power plant in North Springfield are considering significant changes in their plans in response to public concerns.

Dan Ingold, an engineer with Weston Solutions, one of the developers of the project, said a new type of cooling system for the 25 to 35 megawatt plant was under serious consideration, which would dramatically lessen the amount of water needed to cool the plant.

Also being added to the project is a residential district heating project in North Springfield, and a $350,000 wood stove swap, in an effort to reduce air emissions in the area, which is prone to air inversions.

Ingold told members of the Springfield Energy Group and members of the public Tuesday that Winstanley Enterprises and Weston Solutions, the two Massachusetts-based developers, were in the process of redesigning the plant so its water use would be drastically less. Ingold is senior technical director for the project and is a Weston employee.

Ingold said that the company is in the process of discussing the changes with the Agency of Natural Resources, and he stressed that the new design was not a done deal.

He said the new design would make the plant more air-cooled, much like a car, he said, instead of relying on water, which the developers were either going to buy from the town, or draw from the local aquifer.

The amount of water the plant would have needed equaled about half of the entire town�s water use.

He said the North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project was being designed by Waldron Engineering, a firm from Exeter, N.H..

In addition, the project has now added a residential component to its thermal loop, Ingold said.

Under the plan outlined by Ingold Tuesday night, the developers will offer up to 1 million Btu�s a day of �free� heat.

Ingold said he had convinced Winstanley and Weston to set aside $350,000 for a wood stove exchange for residents in the area affected by the plant in an effort to reduce existing air emissions.

While the heat may be free, a system has to be built to deliver it to about 100 homes in North Springfield, Ingold said, and the homes will have to purchase heat exchanges to take advantage of the hot water. He estimated the heat exchanges would cost between $1,000 to $3,000 per home.

Springfield Town Manager Robert Forguites, who was in the audience, said the changes were the first he had heard of it, but he said his initial reaction was positive.

Select Board member Peter MacGillivray, who had been �sitting on the fence� about the project, said that he was pleased the developers were responding to local concerns.

MacGillivray said the changes under consideration showed Winstanley and Weston were listening.

MacGillivray, who has attended several of the Tuesday and Thursday afternoon open house sessions on the project, said efforts were also being made to reduce the plant�s above-ground size, and to cover some of the piles of woodchips under tents.

�They are willing to make changes, they are not one of those �like it or lump it� developers,� he said.

Ingold said that the changes would be included in a new filing with the Public Service Board on June 1.

Ingold said Wednesday, in a follow-up interview, that the company wanted to respond to local concerns. He said that the cooling design and water usage issue had not been finalized.

The major drawback to the new cooling plan is that it is more capital intensive, but he said the project would not have to be buying vast quantities of water from the town.

The new design would only use about 30,000 gallons a day, which project critic Richard Hunter, who was at the Springfield Energy Committee meeting, was next to nothing.

The developers originally said the plant would need 500 gallons of water a minute, or 720,000 gallons a day.

Calling water �a precious resource,� Ingold said the so-called �dry cooling� option would work exactly like a car�s radiator.

Ingold said he wished opponents of the project would recognize that the thermal heating district proposed for the industrial park and now a residential neighborhood, would lessen the amount of pollution. He estimated the thermal heating plans would equal removing the air emissions equivalent to burning 300,000 gallons of propane.

The Energy Committee also heard from Ralph Meima, the program director for the Marlboro Graduate Center�s MBA program in management for sustainability.

Meima, who has lived and worked extensively in Sweden, said district heating systems were widespread in Sweden and Denmark, countries very similar to Vermont and New Hampshire.

He said the North Springfield project would be the first of its kind in Vermont largely because it was privately conceived and funded.