AEB's new biomass power plant was already controversial before the first wood chips disappeared. Incomprehensible, say the employees who start up the hypermodern energy source. "If I didn't believe in it, I wouldn't work here."
About eight trucks a day, estimates location manager Cor Kamphuis. That is still manageable - if AEB's new biomass plant runs at 100 percent of capacity in December, this will increase to thirteen loads per day.
The start-up phase of the newest business unit of waste incineration AEB, which started operating in June, is a process that takes months. Heat is now being supplied to the district heating network, electricity should be added in September and later perhaps even steam for industrial applications. The entire installation required an investment of almost 60 million euros, much of which will be subsidized by the government's SDE+ scheme over the next twelve years.
The largest fireplace in Amsterdam, the thing is jokingly called. But at the same time the cleanest and most efficient, Kamphuis hastens to add, standing between the man-sized bags of particulate matter, which is filtered from the smoke before it goes into the air.
Bark, twigs and twigs
Anyone who has found it hot outside in recent days can empathize with the usual working conditions of Kamphuis and his eight colleagues. In the turbine and boiler hall of the building, right next to the western tunnel mouth of the Coentunnel, it is as hot as a warm summer day, but 24 hours a day, seven days a week. By the way, Kamphuis thinks the heat inside is not too bad, he says during a tour. “Do you see how all those pipes are wrapped with some kind of thermal duvet? I have worked in other biomass plants and I know of no installation that is as well insulated as this one. Because: the more efficiently you use that heat, the more sustainable you are.”
The biomass plant has storage bunkers for approximately six days of heating. This is important because the installation will provide district heating for approximately 27.000 households. This cannot simply come to a standstill in the winter. “Welcome to the forest!” grins Kamphuis on a walkway overlooking the stock. The smell of freshly sawn wood is wonderful, he is not concerned about the small plumes of smoke from the heap, coming from the brewing biomass. “Wood does not ignite at 70 degrees.”
That fuel is the reason that brand new biomass power plants like this one are currently in a bad light. But actually wood is a big word for what the trucks deliver every day to the gigantic storage bunkers. No beautiful cleaved blocks, coming from decades-old trees that are felled to meet Amsterdam's need for green energy, as the growing group of opponents suggests. Anyone who digs around in the biomass will come across pieces of bark, twigs, twigs, pine cones, needles and chips. These are residual flows from production forests and gardeners, originating from a maximum of 150 kilometers around the city. And a little bit of wood waste from the furniture industry.
“Four years ago, a similar power plant was opened by the king, and now look at what is being said about biomass,” says Kamphuis, shaking his head. “The idea is that the trees in the production forests will also remove the emitted CO2 from the air in about twenty years. This makes the cycle of emissions and absorption much shorter than with oil or gas. Burning biomass makes sense, precisely because it is so simple. If I didn't believe in it, I wouldn't work here.”
No stuff from China
The idea may be simple, but the ultra-modern installation is not. The wood chips, called shreds or chips, are first filtered. Sometimes a shovel or screwdriver is fished out by forest managers. The chips then travel via conveyor belts to the highest point of the building, where they are poured into the oven via two streams. Cameras and operators in the control room permanently monitor the fire, from 900 to 1000 degrees Celsius. In a boiler, the heat from the fire is used to convert water into steam.
That steam drives a generator for electricity and heats the water for district heating. According to Kamphuis, what is unique about this plant is not only the quality of the installation – “there are no items from China here” – but also the large glass side wall of the building, making the oven and boiler clearly visible from the highway. “The shutters are always open here. It is very beautiful what happens here, and we like to show that.”
It is essential for the question of how sustainable the combustion of biomass is that the origin of the fuel is guaranteed to consist of regional waste wood, as agreed upon during construction. Every load from the suppliers, ECG and Den Ouden, is checked for composition and origin, and the logbooks are also checked again. “It has to be right, otherwise we won't get a subsidy.”
All that remains after the combustion process is a little gray ash, and the bags of filtered particulate matter. Kamphuis “It would be nice if there was still a market for this, for example for use in aerated concrete.”
Love is a bit over
Thinking about the combustion of woody biomass is changing rapidly. Biomass has become popular in the last fifteen years because it reduces dependence on coal, oil and gas and is a renewable energy source. After all, trees, the basis of woody biomass, can grow again in a relatively short time. But environmental organizations such as Greenpeace and Urgenda, as well as the SER, are now calling for restraint, because burning woody biomass does not contribute quickly enough to the reduction of CO2 in the air.
Marjan Minnesma of Urgenda, among others, acknowledged in June that she has changed her position. She would prefer to see the government stop subsidizing woody biomass and use natural gas in the run-up to a fully sustainable energy supply from sun, wind and geothermal heat in a few decades. “Emissions from biomass are twice as high as from natural gas. By replanting trees it takes twenty years to remove them from the air again, but we no longer have that time," Minnesma said on Radio 1.
Minnesma was more lenient in her assessment of biomass power stations that do not supply their fuel by sea but, like Amsterdam, obtain the fuel from the area around the power station.
Councilor Marieke van Doorninck (Sustainability) is also 'not a fan' of biomass anymore.
There are approximately forty biomass installations in the Netherlands that are comparable to the Amsterdam power plant, says energy researcher Remco de Boer. There are also dozens of projects with other forms of biomass, such as green gas.
Just finished, already for sale
AEB, the municipal waste company, is the owner of the new biomass plant, but the question is for how long. Last year, AEB ran into financial problems due to maintenance backlogs and safety risks, and the municipality and four creditors had to provide financial assistance. In return, AEB promised to showcase external projects, such as the new biomass power plant.
Since there is a guaranteed government subsidy available for the power plant for the next twelve years, there is expected to be a lot of interest in the installation. The company AEB itself is also for sale, but this process is being delayed now that the waste market has collapsed due to the pandemic.
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