Analysis of biomass co-firing systems in Taiwan power markets using linear complementarity models

Abstract

Biomass co-firing systems in power plants generate electric power by the simultaneous combustion of biomass and fossil fuels. The co-firing process reduces investment costs by converting biomass energy into electricity in existing conventional power plants. Biomass co-firing significantly reduces carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions in power generation. To meet the increase in biomass demand, this paper has considered systematic energy crop production, which is expected to increase in the near future. Our aim is to analyze biomass co-firing systems in the Taiwanese electricity market. In this paper, we study two emerging biomass feedstocks: switchgrass and Miscanthus. We focus on the impact of energy crop co-firing on carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions for electricity generation. A Nash–Cournot competition model, which simulates potential biomass co-firing scenarios, is formulated for power markets. A case study conducted in the Taiwanese electricity market showed that biomass co-firing lowers total electricity demand and sale. Miscanthus is more economical than switchgrass in terms of the production cost and the land required to generate biopower for the same levels of biomass co-firing.