Experiences of Innogy with Wood pellets - and Biocoal production

Transcription

1 Experiences of Innogy with Wood pellets - and Biocoal production Essent/RWE Biomass Conference 2011 Paul Coffey Chief Operating Officer,

2 is a key growth driver for RWE Group - biomass is a key element of the renewable strategy Overview Business Area > Established in February 2008 > Bundling renewables activities and competencies across RWE Group Focus on capacity growth in commercially mature renewable technologies, i.e. wind, biomass and hydro Research & Development and Venture Capital to drive the development of emerging technologies, e.g. solar, geothermal, marine > European focus > Asset portfolio of 2.4 GW in operation and 1.1 GW under construction mainly located in United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Italy France and Poland (Accounting view + PPA as at Q1 2011) > Project pipeline of 17.6 GW capacity of wind, hydro and biomass (Accounting view + PPA as at Q1 2011) Wind Onshore Wind Offshore Hydro Biomass New Applications Focus and Strategy Key technology for capacity growth Focus on organic growth Focus markets include Germany, UK, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, France and Central- and South-Eastern Europe Key technology for capacity growth Organic growth strategy leveraging strong position in UK Focus markets include UK, Germany and The Netherlands Run-of-river projects and storage plants Development of hydro power projects Focus areas are South- Eastern Europe and Turkey Development of biomass plants Regional focus on RWE core markets and Central- and South- Eastern Europe Driving innovative renewable technologies towards commercial stage through Venture Capital and R&D and proving large scale commercial feasibility by operating demonstration plants Page 1

3 Securing biomass fuel supply is a key driver of renewable growth There is a strong rationale for use of biomass as energy supply General Significant greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement potential Contribution to energy security/diversification and prices Source of significant local revenues Heat and power 4 Favourable economics compared to solar and suitability for base load supply Transportation 5 Needs no additional grid investments as existing systems are used and this demand growth will make EU a net biomass importer European forest reserves are nearly fully exploited for sawn timber and other industrial usage. Large scale energy generation will require increased imports Europe Current pellet supply Additional pellet capacity Required imports 2020 demand estimate 8 Mio. metric t Source: RWE-callculations Page 2

4 and RWE is moving decisively to address this requirement Production capacity: 750,000 tons per year Used feedstock: 1.5 million tons of virgin wood per year Employees: ~80 FTE Total investment: approx. 120 million Use of the biomass pellets: Combustion in dedicated biomass plants and coal-fired power plants (co-firing) * Full Time Equivalent Waycross pellet plant - In just one year from foundation stone to first pellet 2010 Jan. Feb March - April 2011 May 2011 Q3 / 2011 January 2010 January 2011 March 2011 May 2011 Summer/Autumn 2011 Project announced March 2010 Construction start First wood deliveries First pellets produced April 2011 Trial runs on all five production lines Official inauguration Full capacity trials including debottlenecking project to increase capacity Page 3

5 But not all biomass is equal. We evaluated many international locations against very stringent criteria (illustration only) Georgia USA Key drivers of location selection Access to fibre supply Cost effectiveness of fibre supply driven by competing markets and growth rates Logistics connections to plant Logistics connections to port facility Sustainability credentials of fibre supply The sustainability point was one of the most important drivers of our decision Page 4

6 Replacing coal with pellets reduce CO 2 emissions and reduce RWE carbon cost exposure significantly and effectively Significantly lower specific CO 2 emissions versus hard coal Power plant Full chain kg CO 2 equiv. per MWh Wood pellets 1) 130* 208 BAT Average Full chain CCGT (Germany) ~ BAT Full chain Hard coal (Germany) ~ % BAT = Best Available Technology 1) Based on carbon Life Cycle Analysis made for pellets from Georgia Biomass to ARA (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp) Page 5

7 The upstream value chain is carbon lean with potential for further improvement FOR ILLUSTRATION CO 2 balance of wood pellet production from round wood (kg CO2 equiv. per MWh*) Raw materials 36 17% Wood harvesting and processing require low energy input Pellet production **) % Heat for wood drying is produced by bark combustion Transportation to port 10 5 % Transport route to port: approx. 100 km Maritime transportation % Transport via sea route from the East of the USA to ARA; consideration return cargo Total (acc. to ARA***) % Total based on production with US electricity mix today * for illustration purposes only ** Based on USA s electricity mix *** ARA: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerpen original Source: DBFZ (2011) Page 6

8 Our approach has been to create an almost fully integrated value chain Waycross pellet plant Procurement Pelletising Supply chain Generation Procurement of 1.5 million tons of feedstock Catchment area of approx. 80 km around the plant Georgia with the best price-performance ratio of all raw material regions Meets the criteria of sustainable forestry Large-scale pelletising plant with a production capacity of 750,000 tons per year Used feedstock: approx. 1.5 million tons of fresh wood per year Rail transportation to the port in Savannah Dedicated storage facility for up to 50,000 tons Transportation to Europe on special vessels for forestry products Use of the pellets for dedicated biomass combustion and cofiring in conventional power plants Sustainable forestry Customised pellet quality Long-term security of EU raw materials supply Carbon-neutral generation Page 7

9 From Tree to Pellet how a pellet plant works Waycross Site Overview Page 8 8

10 From Tree to Pellet how a pellet plant works Proposal II Page 9

11 Looking ahead: RWE invests in the innovation of biomass The mean energy content (weighted fuel average) of hard coal is 25GJ/ton* Medium term Wood chips Today Standard white pellets 17GJ/ton Improved handling and combustion Biocoal 21GJ/ton Torrefied pellets Hydrophobic Simplified handling Better grindability and improved burn-out Ideal to replace fossil coal Page 10

12 to use torrefied pellets in its own coal-fired power plants. Topell Energy and RWE together realised the first commercial-scale plant for the production of biocoal. Plant in Duiven, Netherlands Operator: Topell Nederland a joint venture of (24.95%), HVC (24.95%), and Topell Energy (50.1%) Production capacity: 60,000 tons of torrefied pellets per year Customer: RWE Supply & Trading Use: Biocoal pellets are used in coal-fired power plants of the RWE Group (Amercerntrale) Milestones: Ground-breaking in June 2010 together with Dutch economics minister First pellets produced and delivered for testing in Q Experience so far: Scaling up the process to industrial scale remains a key challenge; now on track for full capacity in H Page 11

13 RWE is ready to support the de-carbonisation of the power industry Europe is committed to challenging climate change targets Biomass has a significant role to play as cost competitor A key success factor will be the supply of reliable and sustainable imported pellets RWE has taken significant steps towards a secure and sustainable biomass supply in the US state of Georgia Early investment decisions are required stability of support mechanisms is critical Torrefaction could be a game changer and RWE is well positioned in this key technology Page 12