CPI Benefits

Affordable, Green, and Local Energy

Biomass power benefits from federal incentives and the inevitable Renewable Energy Standards which are being considered both on a federal and state level.

The Renewable Energy Production Incentive (REPI) provides annual incentive payments of 1.5 cents/kWh (1993 dollars and indexed for inflation, the actual payment in 2008 is 2.1 cents/kWh) for the first 10-year period of their operation.

Biomass-fired plants will not be subject to the future price fluctuations of carbon pricing, either through a carbon tax or cap-and-trade measures like coal will.

The technology to combust biomass for electricity exists today, it is proven, and it can be used to displace coal at a reasonably competitive price as soon as the plants are built. Furthermore, CHP allows generators using biomass to get 80-90% efficiency from their fuel source, compared to the 30-35% efficiency from coal in standard power plants. Also, there is less loss of power along transmission lines with smaller, local generators, thereby reducing waste and therefore costs.

In short, for the immediate future, a well-planned matrix of community scale biomass plants using CHP should not raise electric bills to any great extent. For the long-term future, such biomass energy could be considerably less expensive than coal, oil or natural gas.

What Are the Other Benefits of CPI?

Rural economic development.
CPI would create jobs in economically depressed counties. A 50 MW plant needs approximately 228 jobs for operation and support industries. This does not factor in the economic and employment impact on agricultural industries, which will be 60% of the overall impact.

Long term stability of electricity costs for ODEC customer-members.
In order to put a floor (and ceiling) in their members' energy prices, utilities need to make a controlled, secure investment in their energy future. Coal cannot provide that over the long-term, given that both Renewable Energy Standards and carbon pricing are likely to effect coal-fired generation, not to mention the increased costs and risks of coal mining. Locally produced biomass, however, can meet generation needs while benefitting from such legislation.

Plants will be developed and built incrementally, avoiding the cost risks of overproducing for a projected demand that may not arise. And each new facility will utilize the best of current technology as it comes online. The potential for CHP, which will more than double fuel efficiency, will allow the member-owners to sell the thermal energy created from the process for a profit.

Environmental benefits from biomass energy.
Biomass combustion decreases the levels of SO2 and NOx that are emitted in generation compared to coal. Particulate emissions are controllable through standard emission control devices and there is zero net CO2 emission, assuming local providers use sustainable harvesting practices. In a best-situation scenario, biomass energy could even become carbon-negative, because of the amount currently unproductive acreage planted to sustainably and continually support the industry. Where only herbaceous and woody resources are used, the bottom ash is minimal and benign and there is no mercury or lead pollution of local waterways.

Addressing Chesapeake Bay pollution issues.
No other renewable energy source does as much to improve and restore the Bay. Warm season grasses, one of the primary crops for biomass energy, make excellent riparian buffers because they have deep root systems which (1) hold soil in place, preventing streambank erosion and sediment, (2) absorb more nitrates from farmland runoff than other kinds of grasses, and (3) require less tilling, fertilizing, and irrigation than other crops, resulting in fewer ag-related pollutants ending up in the waterways.

In addition, animal waste, such as poultry litter and cow & horse manure, is a valuable resource for biomass energy. A biomass energy industry would provide farmers and animal husbanders a profit motive for fencing in their animals and collecting their waste to sell for energy before it washes into the watershed.

Forestry and woody waste are also essential feedstocks for biomass industry. In Virginia, 80% of all our woodlands are privately owned. Most owners do not use best management practices because there is little financial incentive to do so. However, removing the slash and dead trees in these ecosystems to supplement the supply for biomass energy plants would allow for improved hardwood growth, better wildlife habitat and reduce wildfires. Better forest health leads to better aquatic health in wooded streams, rivers and creeks.

By providing several alternate income streams for current rural uses, one of the end results of an effective CPI campaign could be a reduction in sprawl development, as more rural landowners would be able to realize a decent income from keeping their land undeveloped.

To find out more about CPI, click one of the links below:


• CPI Home
• CPI Definitions

• CPI Presentation (PDF)
• The Municipal Biomass Business Plan (PDF)