The Bay Front Power Plant in Ashland Wisconsin is about to undergo a $70 million overhaul courtesy of financing by Xcel Energy. The power plant has already been retrofitted so that two of its three boilers can burn multiple fuels for power. The proposal by Xcel is to convert the third coal-fired boiler to burn wood chips, producing biomass gasification.

After the upgrade the power plant would burn up to 450,000 tons of waste wood a year compared to the current 200,000 tons. The retrofit will allow the conversion of waste wood to synthetic gas, which is cleaner than coal. Greenhouse gas emissions would be cut dramatically as a result.

After the power plant has been upgraded it will have become the largest biomass-fuelled power plant in the Midwest and one of the largest in the nation.

Xcel will file for approval for the project with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin later this year. Construction is expected to start in 2010, pending project approval. Operation could begin in late 2012.