Hard-working wood

(PEF) has signed a long-term contract to purchase electricity generated by a waste-wood biomass plant to be built by

(BG&E).

Atlanta-based BG&E plans to build a power plant in north Florida using waste wood products, such as yard trimmings, tree bark and wood knots from paper mills, to create electricity. Generating 75 megawatts of electricity through gasification, the plant is said to circumvent the need to burn five million tonnes of coal over the 20-year contract.

‘The southeast is the most biomass-rich area of the United States. Any comprehensive plan for energy production for the state of Florida should include renewable energy, and biomass must be an integral part of that plan,’ said Glenn Farris, president and CEO of Biomass Gas & Electric.

The contract will have to be approved by the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) before the plant can be built. The plant is expected, however, to begin operating commercially in 2011, and will be BG&E’s third biomass power plant.