Xcel Energy just announced that it will convert its Bay Front Power Plant in Ashland, WI, to run completely off of biomass. The company plans to install biomass gasification technology in the last coal-fired unit at the plant, once regulators. Under the current timeline, the plant could be completely converted by 2012.

Here’s more about the project, from the Examiner.com:

When completed, the project will convert the plant’s remaining coal-fired unit to biomass gasification technology, allowing it to use 100 percent biomass in all three boilers. The company says it will use waste wood as its primary source of biomass and expects the plant to be the largest biomass plant in the Midwest.

The $58 million project is expected to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides and particulate matters by 60 percent, 80 percent and 80 percent respectively. The total generation output of the plant is not expected to change significantly as a result of the project.

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