Column: Vermont’s wood-fired power plants can lead the way on climate change – Valley News

Here is a hopelessly rosy, optimistic, forward-looking, “free market” climate remedy that might actually work. Vermont’s two wood plants, McNeil and Ryegate, are losing money and emit over 600,000 tons of CO2 per year. That’s most of the CO2 the state Climate Council wants to reduce after setbacks to the Clean Heat Standard, EV stations and the regional Transportation and Climate Initiative. These programs deserved completion, not cancellation.

Fortunately, a multi-system upgrade can double the operating efficiency of the McNeil and Ryegate power plants, increase electric output and accrue valuable carbon credits by simultaneously reducing CO2 gas at emission point and removing it from the atmosphere. So, these projects should be quite lucrative and will salvage old power plants that are fast becoming obsolete. The same is true of such plants across the country.

The McNeil Generating Station in Burlington, Vt., seen on Friday, October 11, 2024. (VtDigger – Glenn Russell)

The World Bank, commercial banks, institutional investors, state agencies and strategic investment firms should design a specific loan package with and for investor-owned utilities and other owners such as rural cooperatives and state power authorities. The goal is to finance the commercial transformation of central power plants into negative carbon emission, power and storage stations. This approach fully utilizes the old power plant, which works as it did before but with three main improvements.

First, sustainable biofuels gradually replace fossil fuels or wood chips from clear-cut forests. Second, the exhaust system incorporates CO2 capture and reuse capacity at the point of emission. Third, waste heat, waste steam and heat pumps are employed to preheat boiler water. Foresters should sell no trees before their time, with carbon offsets for more money. Ideally, wood chips should only come from lumber and mill waste and scrub wood, not by clear-cutting old growth carbon forests that should be harvested sustainably to maximize verifiable carbon offsets.

The Clean Heat Standard might have come with a robust biofuel program to give farmers new cash crops and put more affordable heating oil on the market with carbon offsets factored into the price. Biofuels and heat pumps might seem odd partners but cover each other’s political flaws.

So, instead of emitting CO2, these redesigned, multi-system power stations would capture, reduce and reuse CO2 from point of emission to make synthetic fuels or feedstocks such as graphite or calcium carbonate. New catalysts can turn CO2 and H2O into synthetic fuels, such as H2, methane, methanol, ethanol, gasoline and diesel. These fuels can augment fuel supply by over 20% or be sold as low-carbon fuels. Feedstocks are yet another profit center. The green icing comes from verified CO2 reductions, traded as carbon credits on the Voluntary and Compliance Carbon Markets (CCM) in the EU, California and China.

Moreover, these new power stations would also “remove” from air most of the CO2 they emitted before through the miracle of C4 photosynthesis, thereby earning even more carbon credits. In short, they would reduce CO2 emission but also remove CO2 from the atmosphere. And, they might well employ waste heat from the stack and waste steam from the turbine and high temperature heat pumps to preheat boiler water, thus cutting fuel consumption by over 20%, while generating more output. And, they might also include lucrative load leveling operations like Northfield Reservoir. So what is not to like?

Vermont farmers want new cash crops. Fossil fuels and wood chips from clear-cut forests can be gradually replaced with biofuels made from C4 crops like sorghum, millet, maize, amaranth, switchgrass and hemp from local agrivoltaic farms. C4 crops remove CO2 from air with great efficiency, are good for soil and reduce erosion and flooding due to rapid climate change — all in accordance with Vermont’s Land Conservation Act 59. Local agrivoltaic farms can supply sustainable biofuel to the furnace and PV watts to the switching yard. Farmers reap two rewards.

There is nothing new or radical about a multi-system approach that combines these well-known innovations. All the working parts are commercially available. Besides, biodiesel for heat and trucks is competitive in price with fossil diesel. Yet, we do not see hundreds or thousands of such transformation projects happening. Instead, we see a hodgepodge of carbon capture and direct air capture projects, which are too expensive and do the wrong thing with CO2 after they capture it. Oil and gas companies want to pump CO2 into the earth for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or fracking, which only puts more CO2 back in the air. Altruists want to pump CO2 a mile deep just to get rid of it but that is also too expensive and raises concerns over water quality and earthquakes.

Another dark cloud looms over the climate debate. Nuclear power is not a benign alternative to Vermont’s overdependence on out-of-state power from the New England grid, which, incidentally, is saturated with power from Hydro Quebec and Seabrook Nuclear. Both are environmentally problematic. Vermont should not be importing 80% of its electricity. We should keep more dollars in Vermont by developing our own safe, clean, green, in-state, renewable resources.

Vermont and New England should stop flirting with nuclear and get behind sustainable biofuels, agrivoltaic farming and negative carbon emissions. We can double the operating efficiency of old power plants and make them carbon negative. The governor, climate council and Green Mountain Power can lead the way. Many Republicans, most Democrats and even some Progressives will vote for a lucrative, free market, CO2 solution that creates lots of construction and farm jobs.

Jim Hurt has had a long career in sustainability. He lives in Woodstock.

What to Read Next