Perennial tree pruning biomass waste exploitation for electricity generation: The perspective of Greece

Abstract

Today’s electricity generation relies heavily on fossil fuels. Emissions of conventional thermal power plants affect adversely air quality and intensify the greenhouse effect. Renewable energy technologies for electricity generation present perhaps a possible alternative. The purpose of this research is to investigate the viability of electricity generation using agricultural biomass residues from both a techno-economic and an environmental perspective. The biomass residues considered in this work concern tree pruning in nine different geographically dispersed prefectures of the Greek territory. An integrated methodology is proposed for assessing the potential of tree pruning biomass fired power plants. A systematic sensitivity analysis is also carried out in order to examine the effect of various economic parameter values on investment recovery time. It is shown that an increase in energy sale prices and/or a reduction in either the investment cost or the ‘bio-fuel’ price are crucial for the sustainable operation of biomass fired power plants in the country. Calculated results, based on real-world data, show that the direct combustion of pruning residues for electricity generation is very beneficial not only by economizing fossil fuels and providing new income opportunities, but also by leading to a low CO2 power generation.