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California has the most active biomass power plants of any state. The map below is an attempt to show the distribution and basic details for these facilities. The number of active power plants is constantly changing as facilities may stop operating (become "idle") if contract prices for electricity drop or if they have difficulty sourcing enough fuel.
The key to the map is on the right. Green pins represent operational power plants, yellow pins show facilities that are currently idle but that could restart with minimal capital investment (they also have active power purchase agreements), red pins represent projects (eg restart, re-power, co-firing with coal), white pins show non-operational facilities which might be restarted subject to appropriate investment, orange pins indicate pilot projects demonstrating new technology, and purple pins represent project in the planning stage. You can open the map in a separate window by clicking here. A pdf list of the facilities for download is at the bottom of the page.
View California Biomass Power Plants in a larger map
The data for the map was collated from multiple sources including the California Biomass Collaborative, California Energy Commission, California Public Utilities Commission, California Forestry Association, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Biomass Power Association, California Biomass Energy Alliance, California Energy Almanac and individual facilities. We appreciate the feedback and input from Tad Mason and Fred Tornatore at TSS Consultants and Rob Williams from UC Davis/California Biomass Collaborative.
Note for illustration only. User to verify all information. May contain errors and omissions. Please reference Gareth Mayhead, UC Berkeley if you use this data.
Map last updated January 2012.
More Information
This article in January-March 2012 issue of California Agriculture looks at some of the trends and issues for California's biomass power plants and has a static version of the map.
Links
California Biomass Collaborative
California Energy Commission
California Public Utilities Commission
California Forestry Association
Biomass Power Association
California Biomass Energy Alliance
California Energy Almanac
TSS Consultants
Map Key
Operational Facilities
Idle Facilities (temporary stoppage (months or longer). Restarting relatively simple.
Pilot Projects (typically small scale demonstration of new technology)
Active Project (in transition) (new construction, conversion or restart)
Proposed Projects (in planning) (limited list)
Non-Operational facilities (requires significant capital to restart)
Clicking on the map pins will give you the following: facility name, plant type (biomass solid fuel, gasification, or co-fire/conversion at fossil fuel facilties, gross size (MW) and whether it is CHP (cogeneration)
CA Power Plant Information
Facts and figures on the industry. All files are in PDF format. You can subscribe if you want to know when this information is updated.
| Title | Content | Type | Date Added |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA Biomass Power Plants May 2011 | The latest list of California Biomass Power Plants including operational, idle, restarts, conversion (from other fuels) and gasification projects. Changes have been made based on feedback. Classifications have changed slightly. |
5/10/11 | |
| CA Biomass Power Plants March 2011 | The latest list of California Biomass Power Plants including operational, idle, restarts, conversion (from other fuels) and gasification projects |
4/26/11 | |
| CA Biomass Powerplants 2006 | A list of the biomass powerplants in California | 7/11/08 |
Woody Biomass Utilization Biomass Energy California grant power electricity forest products biomass wood pellets pyrolysis