A proposed 50MW wood burning biomass power plant in Western Massachusetts has just cleared a major hurdle in its road to becoming reality today when it was issued with a certificate of approval from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. This final environmental report clearance means that Russell Biomass LLC can now file for permits to proceed with construction of the power plant.

The Russell Biomass Power Plant will be built on the site of the old Westfield River Paper Company, a brownfield site fit only for industrial construction. The renewable energy project will provide the city with a clean source of electricity and will bring in an annual total of $600,000 in tax revenues.

In terms of benefit to the environment, the Russell Biomass Power Plant will meet the electricity needs of around 50,000 homes in Hampdon County. An equivalent amount of electricity produced by an oil-burning power plant would use around 480,000 barrels of oil per year.

About 500,000 tons of clean wood fuel will be consumed annually. The fuel will include whole tree chips from land clearing, forest management residues, roadside tree trimming and power line maintenance, ground stumps, and ground pallets.

Concerns that the biomass plant will have a negative environmental impact are alleviated by the EPA report that explains that wood combustion in electrical power generating units is “carbon neutral” and causes no net addition of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. Wood burning merely recycles CO2 in the biosphere in which we live.

Now that the last permit hurdle has been passed, the company hopes to begin construction of the plant sometime in the fall of 2008.

Complete details of the new power plant can be found on the Russell Biomass website.