Cogeneration seems to be ecological, but is it really ?

Hi everyone,

We often hear from ecologists, politicians talk about cogeneration plants as a real source of "green" electricity generation. But are they really as green as they want us to believe ?

First of all, you have to understand the operation of a cogeneration plant.

I'm going to talk about my experience as a machinist in a cogeneration plant. The beginning of the chain starts with the delivery of the biomass to the cogeneration plant. Between 3000 and 3500 tonnes of biomass were needed per week. It's amazing, is not it? Of course this are waste but the most incredible is the production we have in Europe because there are many cogeneration plants.

Once the biomass is pushed with a loader, it is put in stock on a storage platform. It is time for the machinist to crush the merchandise to put it in a building with grapples (as shown in the picture).
There are several systems but I will stay on the system of the image.

The next step is the taking of the goods by the grapin who will put it in a moving floor silo. Conveyors bring the goods to the heart of the boiler that burns biomass to produce heat. The heat produced will be used to heat the pipes filled with water (exchangers) which will produce steam and turn a turbine. This is how to produce green electricity but is it really green ? Knowing that we must add waste ash (which is used either in the construction of roads (prohibited by location because pollutants for the ground) but also used in the preparation of concrete.

You should know that the power station where I worked had an electricity production of (average because more certain of the figure but it was between 4 to 5 MWe) and there were two units thus a production of 9 to 10 MWe.

To make a comparison. The Tihange nuclear power plant (3 reactors) has a production of 3,008 MWe. Central well known in Belgium because of its recurring problems. Micro crack in the reactor but also other problems because of a poor manager interviews.

Conclusion: High pollution (truck, machine, power plant) but also our forests because it is necessary to supply all the power stations even if a percentage of the wood used is waste. It remains that our consumption of wood is far too important.

So I submit to you this question, are cogeneration plants a real alternative source of electricity? For me the answer is clearly no.

Feel free to give your opinion in the comments.

Ecology is important to you? I invite you to see the work of @cleanplanet . It rewards people who clean the planet. A very nice project that I support 100%

Have a good day.