GRAYLING/LINCOLN - As foreign fuel costs continue to soar, talk in Lansing and Washington, D.C. has turned to ethanol manufacturing and biofuel energy sources.

In northern Michigan, several privately owned wood burning power plants burn waste wood chips, which are converted into electricity dispensed via the national power grid.

To illustrate the power grid, Viking Energy Lincoln Power Station Plant Manager David James in Alcona County explained, “Imagine laying a map of the United States out on a table, and then laying chicken wire over the map. The national power grid looks like the chicken wire.” James also manages the Viking Energy McBain Power Station in Wexford County.

Grayling Generating Station Plant Manager Philip Lewis noted his plant, and the two operated by James, are like many biofuel plants nationwide. They were constructed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by power companies which received federal tax credits.

The plants burn waste wood products, such as sawdust, forestry products, and waste wood reduced to 2-inch chips. In addition, the power plants co-mingle scrap tire chips with the wood.

“We get about 3.2 times more energy from a pound of tire chips versus the same amount of wood,” noted James, who explained the state enforces strict emission regulations on the plants. “Although burning waste tire chips - a petroleum product - produces more energy, the process also creates sulfur dioxide, a pollutant which is a precursor to acid rain,” he explained.

Although biofuel plants add electricity to the power grid, Lewis is aware many property owners don't want a power plant in their back yard. “Wood dust and ash are stirred up whenever we push the dirt around with the bulldozers,” noted Lewis, who indicated the location of the Grayling Generating Station, just off Four Mile Road in the industrial section of Grayling near the Georgia-Pacific and Weyerhaeuser plants, is ideal. “We don't have any neighbors to disturb.”

In Europe many communities have built local biofuel plants to provide low-cost electricity to residents. According to Lewis, “Europeans are much more forgiving of the noise and mess. People who live in northern Michigan want cheap energy but they also want peace and quiet.” In addition to the noise, Lewis explained the natural decomposition process occurring in the mountains of wood chips emits an odor which “smells like money to me, but is very offensive to some people.”

According to information provided by Saginaw Valley State University Professor of Engineering Christopher Schilling, corn and wood biofuels are the most cost effective renewable energy sources. Schilling explained heating a 2,000-square-foot home uses 85.3 million BTUs of heat. To heat that home with electricity or propane would cost more than $2,000 per winter. Burning wood chips would produce the same heat at about $600 per winter, according to Schilling.

James agreed, adding, “There is more wood in the forest dying, than is being consumed.”

“About 33 percent of the heat generated from burning wood and tire chips is converted into energy, while 66 percent is waste heat,” he said. He'd like to see the waste heat generated by the “thermal host” used in some type of satellite business. “A Viking Energy plant in Pennsylvania heats a greenhouse with the waste heat. They grow flowers for retail chains,” stated James. He is aware of another plant which operates a tomato cannery using the waste energy.

Recently, Schilling spoke about the possibility of developing a biofuel plant at Georgia-Pacific's abandoned Bagley Township property Schilling suggested using the hot water or steam, a by-product of converting wood to energy, to heat a greenhouse for growing out of season fruit or vegetables. Then as the water cooled, Schilling proposed using the same water to grow brine shrimp in an aquaculture industry. Eventually the cooled water could be used in an indoor water park. Schilling stated, “Creating jobs from hot water makes sense.”

James noted water consumption at the Lincoln and McBain plants is about 250 gallons per minute, while Lewis stated the larger plant in Grayling consumes about 500 gallons per minute. The water is cooled and then recycled into the energy process.

Lewis likes the idea of using the heated water in another industry, but hasn't seen many private companies stepping forward to invest in the process.

“Studies have been conducted on using the waste water for a perch farm or a greenhouse, with all components being symbiotic,” said Lewis. He believes the cost of piping and pumps associated with the satellite industries could be cost prohibitive.

“We are always looking at things to add to the business,” Lewis stated. He fears, however, “It wouldn't take much to upset the process, a faulty pH balance could kill all the crop. I don't see anyone willing to take that risk.”

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