VA breaks ground on biomass energy system

Chillicothe Gazette - Chillicothe, Ohio

BY LOREN GENSON • Gazette Staff Writer • August 6, 2010

The Chillicothe VA Medical Center soon will be home to a rare type of energy-efficient biomass energy system.

The center hosted a groundbreaking for the new $26 million biomass energy center that will heat the entire VA facility. The biomass system will create steam and generate electrical power from the burning of wood chips and is expected to save about $900,000 per year in energy costs.

"When completed, this energy center, using state-of-the-art green technology, will be a showcase for other VA hospitals that seek to do the same," Chillicothe VA Director Jeffrey Gering said.

The VA already had been planning a $12 million boiler replacement to upgrade the current 40-year-old system that was failing. State Rep. Ray Pryor stepped in with the idea to secure additional government money to upgrade to a boiler-fueled biomass system.

Pryor and Gering worked with U.S. Rep. Zack Space to secure American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money, and $14 million for the biomass upgrade was announced in June.

"I think it's great they were able to take a project that was already moving forward, and change directions slightly when they saw how great green energy could be," Pryor said.

In a biomass facility, wood chips are burned to create steam to generate power. The wood chips are a renewable resource that are carbon-neutral and are considered a "green" product from an environmental standpoint.

Columbus and Chillicothe Veterans Affairs Energy Manager Dale Allard said even the unused ash produced by the biomass process is agricultural-grade material that can be reused in farming operations.

"We'll be burning about three semi-truck loads of wood a day, and after burning for five days, we'll have only a small ash pile left over, it's that efficient," Allard said.

The facility also will be fully enclosed so there will be no smoke pollution.

"It's state-of-the-art pollution control technology," Allard said. "It's going to be very, very clean."

Space, who serves on the House committee on Energy and Commerce, said he hopes projects like the VA biomass will serve as a demonstration of the success of green technology elsewhere.

He pledged to continue to take a proactive and progressive stance on green energy.

"We're hoping to wean this country off foreign oil, and it's saving money on a large scale," Space said.

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20100806/NEWS01/8060309/VA-breaks-ground-on-biomass-energy-system