Methodology for the large scale assessment of the technical power potential of forest biomass: Application to the province of New Brunswick, Canada

Abstract

In this study, a methodology is presented for the large scale assessment of forest biomass available over a territory with multiple land ownerships and to determine the technical power potential of this biomass for the commercial cogeneration of heat and power in industrial-sized combined heat and power plants (CHP). The forest biomass assessment of merchantable stem-wood is based on Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) data, while the biomass assessments of the other tree components are estimated using biomass allometric equations and biomass expansion factors. An application of the methodology is made to the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Results show that the total annual potential harvest of forest biomass in the study area is 15.5 Mt green weight (GT) at harvest from which approximately 63% would come from merchantable wood, 27% from residual biomass and 10% from bark. In term of electric and thermal power potential, the findings indicate that if all the forest biomass harvested annually in the province was to be used as fuel input in dedicated CHP plants, a total of 1.2 GW of electricity and 3 GW of thermal heat could be produced. In regards to the provincial spatial distribution of forest biomass, results from a cumulative perspective show that 22% of all forest biomass would come from a 25 km radius of the CHP plant sites identified in this study, 73% within a 50 km radius and 100% within a 125 km radius.