Can China replace coal with biomass power generation?

Biomass power is energy derived from living or recently living organisms such as corn and other plants, wood, and even municipal solid waste. Using biomass to generate electricity should, in theory, be cleaner than burning fossil fuels because the carbon and energy that would be released when dead plants rot is instead intercepted and used to produce energy. Moreover, biomass is a renewable resource that could help China reduce its dependence on coal and process its growing output of household garbage and industrial waste.

So the Chinese government is encouraging the development of biomass energy.

Yesterday, the State Grid Corporation of China 国家电网 — the world’s largest utility company — and State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) 国家电力投资集团 — the world’s largest photovoltaic (PV) power generation company — signed an agreement to jointly manage National Bio Energy 国能生物, China’s largest biomass energy company. National Bio Energy currently has an installed capacity of 1.13 million kilowatts (kW) and total assets of 15.86 billion yuan ($2.34 billion).

This project is part of a broader government initiative to increase the use of biomass energy. The 14th Five-Year Plan for the Bioeconomy, released in May 2022, calls for the active development of biomass energy production for electricity and heating, as does the 14th Five-Year Plan for renewable energy, released in June 2022. The central government is expected to invest around 1.2 trillion yuan ($172.32 billion) in the industry up to 2025.

Why is China developing biomass energy?

The Chinese government has set “double carbon” goals of reaching peak carbon use by 2030 and becoming carbon neutral by 2060.

China still burns around 5 billion tons of coal annually, and biomass thermal energy could start to replace this. According to a report and action plan on reducing coal use in China published by Tsinghua University in May 2022, China has biomass energy resources available nationwide annually equivalent to about 928 million tons of standard coal. The report recommends the development of biomass energy in conjunction with other renewables in order to reduce the amount of coal use. Indeed, biomass energy will not be pursued headlong like wind and solar power, but instead, is planned to provide a reliable source of energy that can supplement wind and solar power, which can be unpredictable because of the weather.

Biomass is difficult to commercialize

There are some limitations, however, on how fast biomass energy production can be expanded. According to the National Energy Administration, China’s installed capacity for biomass energy amounted to 37.98 million kW by the end of 2021, and this accounted for only about 3.6% of the total installed renewable power generation capacity.

This is partly because it is difficult to commercialize: Biomass energy resources are widely scattered and have less energy density than oil, coal, and gas. Hence, a complete industrial chain has not yet been established for biomass energy production, and China is still dependent on foreign imports for biomass processing technology.

But watch this space: Companies have been trying to turn used cooking oil into jet fuel at least since 2014 and are still researching the technology, and with the government backing biomass energy, there might soon be a thriving industry that turns household waste, sewage, and agricultural byproducts into cheap and relatively clean electricity.