News

Dec 09, 2023

Opinion: Kitsap's power needs mean several alternatives can help

I read with interest about the proposed biodiesel plant in Ueland Tree Farm in

I read with interest about the proposed biodiesel plant in Ueland Tree Farm in the Kitsap Sun ("Energy company planning biodiesel plant able to power 200,000 homes," October 10), and related articles. I applaud the effort to bring blackout-reducing measures to our county. A natural disaster affecting our grid, for example loss of the high voltage lines going through Gorst, could put us in the dark for weeks. I fully support the idea of a biodiesel power plant in Kitsap.

However, I offer a few thoughts about this, and potentially other, complimentary solutions.

Most but not all biodiesel comes from soybeans and rapeseed plants. I’ll talk about soybeans. In the most simplistic sense, we see that the CO2 sucked in by those growing soybean plants is about the same as the CO2 generated by the diesel plant. But let's draw our carbon circle wider. Growing the soybeans requires fertilizer- potash, urea, and ammonium sulphate depending on soil makeup. The feedstock for the latter is methane gas to supply the hydrogen for the process. Unfortunately, the byproduct of this process is CO2 which goes into our atmosphere and is a greenhouse gas. Add to that the emissions from the machinery to plant and harvest, then transportation energy to move it, and the energy requirements for the plant to process the beans into oil. So, how much greenhouse gas emissions do we save? The analysis is one for a PHD thesis with its many complications but was done by Purdue University. They estimate that overall greenhouse gas emissions are 72% less compared with petroleum diesel. But this is not 100% less, which it should be if it were as simple as the plant-biodiesel carbon tradeoff discussed initially. Finally, there is the "opportunity cost" of growing soybeans for biofuels. That land could be "rewilded", meaning it can grow trees and other vegetation to permanently absorb and sequester carbon dioxide. We should therefore seek out the lowest carbon biodiesel. On the horizon may be fuels sourced from Azolla fern (also called water velvet or fairy moss).

The air quality permit application for the biodiesel generating plant is for 4% run time. As we "electrify everything", electrical demand will grow, we will have peaks that may exceed our grid capacity. We absolutely need some sort of "peaker plant", but I believe there may be better options than biodiesel. Several megawatts of battery backup, possibly co-located with the biodiesel plant, could be used. An October 22 article in the Kitsap Sun talks about battery storage facilities going in around the Pacific Northwest. Batteries work well for short term, or peak, needs, commonly for a few hours. Batteries are a one-time investment of our remaining carbon budget but operate mostly carbon-free otherwise. The megawatt capacities of those battery storage facilities described in the Kitsap Sun article are on par with the proposed biodiesel plant output and would seem to be a good substitute during peak demand. The biodiesel plant should thus be run only if there is a grid problem and for routine testing. It should be like a backup generator you keep in your garage and only use it during power outages. Battery backup allows us to use our (fairly) clean PSE power for peaks. Another way to level out demand is through time-variable pricing of electricity, whereby users are encouraged with lower prices to use power off-peak. This can be implemented with loads such as water heaters and electric-vehicle charging.

For a prolonged outage, it might be worth considering using our nuclear reactors in the naval vessels to back feed the grid. This has been done before elsewhere but would require infrastructure modifications. In a perfect world we might have batteries for short term peak needs, the biodiesel plant for circumstances beyond short term, but possibly the nuclear option depending on feasibility and costs.

We should welcome the biodiesel plant into our community, but its use should be restricted to operational functioning and as emergency backup. We don't want perfect — 100% renewable power — be the enemy of the good.

Charlie Michel is a retired petroleum engineer who now works on initiatives to improve our climate by accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy and lower carbon lifestyles. He satisfies his home and transportation energy needs with 66 solar panels, heat pump technology, and two electric cars.