Feasibility and sustainability of co-firing biomass in coal power plants in Vietnam

Overview & Synopsis

The technology of co-firing biomass with coal is well-matured as demonstrated in many power plants in Europe and the US. It is considered a low-cost technology to utilize biomass in power generation as well as to reduce the greenhouse gases emissions and coal consumption in coal power plants. In Vietnam, the factors that draw attention to biomass co-firing include national energy security, climate change and environmental issues. To ensure national electricity security, the capacity of coal power plants in Vietnam will be expanded to 75 GW by 2030, which accounts for 57% of total power generation. This will increase the greenhouse gases emissions and pose a great challenge on coal supply for Vietnam. This research aims to evaluate the feasibility and sustainability of co-firing biomass in coal power plants in Vietnam through a set of indicators, which covers technical, economical, environmental and social aspects. These indicators are calculated for two cases, a newly constructed 1080 MW fluidized bed coal power plant and a 100 MW pulverized coal power plant. In the case study, direct co-firing technology with 5% of biomass is selected for the evaluation of the indicators. Results indicate that co-firing is technically feasible but not yet economically profitable for the plants to employ this technology without supporting mechanisms. However, from the environmental and social aspects, co-firing can offer various benefits including greenhouse gases emission reduction of about 10-11%, extra income for farmers and coal export company and jobs creation. Thus, it is recommended that co-firing is still an option to be considered as a way to reduce emission and to utilize biomass resource for electricity generation in Vietnam.