Woody Biomass for Heating and Cooling
‘District Energy (DE) systems use hot water or steam to heat and cool homes and businesses within a town or community’ Bill Cook writes in Woody Biomass for Energy in Michigan.
That is exactly what District Energy of Saint Paul does. District Energy is one of the most advanced and integrated systems in North America, incorporating CHP, biomass, solar thermal, community solar partnerships and thermal storage. Their combined heat and power (CHP) plant is fueled by urban tree waste, producing up to 55 megawatts of thermal energy for District Energy and 25 megawatts of electricity for Xcel Energy. Their energy output, not only heats and cools roughly 200 homes in downtown Saint Paul, MN, but it also makes them the largest wood-fired CHP plant serving a district energy system in the nation!
District Energy sources approximately 240,00 tons of urban tree residuals annually, including wood residuals from Emerald Ash Borer management efforts.
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