Promote the green, low-carbon and circular development of the biomass power generation industry

In order to accelerate green and low-carbon development, jointly promote high-quality economic development and high-level protection of the ecological environment, according to the unified deployment and overall requirements of the Ministry's leading Party Group to carry out the theme education of "never forget the original intention, keep the mission in mind", combined with the central theme education and the designated help arrangement of atmospheric supervision, Xu Huaqing, director of the National Climate Center, led 5 people from the Strategic Planning Department and the Carbon Marketing Department to carry out special research activities on the green low-carbon cycle development of the biomass power generation industry to understand the development of the biomass power generation industry, the recycling of biomass resources, the transformation of ultra-low emissions of enterprises, the coordinated control of air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions and other problems. The direction of green low-carbon cycle development of biomass power generation industry and the possibility and potential of realizing negative carbon dioxide emission in the future are discussed.

Basic understanding of biomass power generation industry

Biomass energy is an important renewable energy with basic features such as green, low-carbon and recycling. As an important way to build a low-carbon energy system in rural areas, biomass power generation industry plays an important role in promoting the transformation of green agricultural development and promoting the employment of rural labor force. It is of great significance to promote resource recycling, solve rural environmental pollution and explore potential negative greenhouse gas emission technologies.

First, although China's biomass resources are rich, the scale of biomass energy utilization is still relatively limited. The 13th Five-Year Plan for the development of biomass energy clearly points out that accelerating the development and utilization of biomass energy is an important part of promoting the revolution in energy production and consumption, and an important task of improving environmental quality and developing a circular economy. By 2020, biomass energy will basically achieve commercialization and standardized utilization, and the annual utilization of biomass energy will be about 58 million tons of standard coal. It is estimated that the total amount of biomass resources such as crop straw and agricultural product processing residues, forestry residues and energy crops, domestic waste and organic waste that can be used as energy resources in the country is equivalent to about 460 million tons of standard coal each year, of which 400 million tons of agricultural waste resources are converted into about 200 million tons of standard coal, and the amount of forestry waste resources is 350 million tons. Converted into about 200 million tons of standard coal, the remaining relevant organic waste resources are about 60 million tons of standard coal. 

In 2017, China's biomass energy for power generation and heating only 17.3 million tons of standard coal, as of 2018, China has put into operation 902 biomass power generation projects, connected to the grid installed capacity of 17.843 million kilowatts, annual power generation of 90.68 billion KWH, including: There were 321 agricultural and forestry biomass power generation projects, with a grid-connected installed capacity of 8.063 million kW and an annual generating capacity of 35.74 billion KWH. The average utilization hours of power generation equipment in the industry were 4,895 hours. There were 401 waste-incineration power generation projects, with a grid-connected installed capacity of 9.164 million kilowatts, an annual generating capacity of 48.81 billion kilowatt-hours, and an annual disposal of 130 million tons of garbage. There are 180 biogas power generation projects, with an installed capacity of 616,000 kilowatts and an annual generating capacity of 2.41 billion kilowatt-hours. From the perspective of geographical distribution, China's agricultural and forestry biomass power generation projects are mainly concentrated in North China, Northeast China, Central China and East China, where crops are rich. Due to the impact of industrial policies, some enterprises have converted to cogeneration, power generation subsidies have not been timely reissued, and some enterprises have been shut down due to tight capital chain. In 2018, the average utilization hours of power generation equipment in China's biomass power generation industry were 4,895 hours, a decrease of 774 hours compared with the previous year.

Second, China's biomass power generation is of great significance for promoting the green growth of agriculture and promoting labor employment. The Outline of Poverty Alleviation and Development in Rural China (2011-2020) clearly states that we will accelerate the development and utilization of renewable energy in poor areas, develop biomass energy according to local conditions, and promote the application of ecological energy projects such as biogas, energy-saving stoves, solid formed fuels, and centralized gas supply stations for straw gasification. Biomass power generation is an important carrier for the integrated development of agriculture, industry and service industry. It has the characteristics of long industrial chain and strong driving force. It can not only relieve farmers' worries about crop straw harvesting and disposal, but also realize clean production, waste resource utilization and ecological industrial model, improve agricultural sustainable development ability and effectively promote agricultural green growth. It is also conducive to solving the employment problem of some local rural labor force. It is estimated that according to the annual consumption of about 54 million tons of agricultural and forestry waste, the annual fuel purchase payment to farmers is about 15 billion yuan, which has helped about 200,000 farmer families get rid of poverty and become rich. Taking Nangong Bio-Power Generation Co., Ltd. as an example, its annual power generation capacity is 200 million KWH, and it consumes about 300,000 tons of agricultural and forestry waste. The raw materials are mainly agricultural and forestry waste such as cotton straw, corn straw, corncob, wheat straw, bark, branches and wood segments collected by farmers within a radius of 150 kilometers around the power generation company. The purchase price of fuel heating value per ton of raw materials is between 280-430 yuan, which is converted to pay more than 80 million yuan to farmers every year, and can directly provide rural surplus labor employment of about 4,000 people. In some under-developed areas, the biomass power generation industry has fully docking targeted poverty alleviation, which has become a powerful move to win the battle against poverty.