ROTHSCHILD, Wis. (WSAU) — After six months of downtime, the biomass power plant operated by We Energies in Rothchild is back online. We Energies spokesman Brian Manthey says the power plant which burns wood waste and paper mill scraps went into service in late 2013, but was out of service for most of the winter. He says that’s not all that uncommon with new generating plants, especially when you’re working with a new design or technology. “All of these plants, whether it’s biomass, or coal, or others, are moving at incredibly high rates of speed and production, and so any little wobble is going to create an issue. You’re going to want to have the plant come down, investigate it, and make whatever change might be necessary, and sometimes it’s a very minor adjustment. Other times, it might be a part replacement, but it’s really not unusual for any plant to have those kind of issues.”
Manthey says the Rothschild plant had issues including bearing failure on the electrical generating steam turbine, and several leaks in condensor tubes. He says the majority of the work was under warranty, so it was important to take care of the issues right away.
Now, Manthey says the BioMass plant is back in service. “We have had it back online since the end of May, so we’ll continue to be able to use it as needed, or for that matter, as we are able to produce energy as well as produce steam for the Domtar mill.” The plant is capable of generating 50 megawatts of electricity at maximum output.
Manthey says it’s important to remember there are different types of power plants. There are also coal-fired, gas-fired, hydro, wind, and solar generating facilities. He says some are managed at high output almost 24 hours every day, while others are dialed back or boosted depending on electrical demand. Manthey says which plants are running at full output is often determined by the fuel cost, allowing them to keep client bills lower.
The Rothschild biomass plant was able to produce steam for the Domtar mill during the maintenance work. If they ever have to take the entire biomass plant out of service, there is a gas-fired boiler to provide steam to the mill.
