Novo BioPower
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Novo BioPower
About Novo
Novo BioPower is a renewable energy company engaged in biomass power generation utilizing wood waste as a primary fuel source.
Novo BioPower, LLC, also known as the Novo BioPower Plant, is a 27 megawatt biomass power plant located in Snowflake, Arizona, approximately 180 miles Northeast of Phoenix. The Novo Plant has two long-term power purchase agreements in place with Arizona Public Services (APS) and Salt River Project (SRP), Arizona’s two largest electric utilities.
The Plant began commercial operations in June 2008 following a 22-month construction period. The Plant has since been through two ownership changes since its inception. Although Novo BioPower is a new company, we have hand-selected an excellent team of leaders, and specialists, many of which have been with the plant from its inception.
Biomass 101
What is Biomass?
Biomass energy is energy from the sun captured in organic materials derived from plants or animals. Sources of biomass include:
- Forestry residues (green waste from landfills, sawmill waste, other vegetative and wood waste)
- Agricultural crops are grown for energy purposes and other agricultural waste
- Woody construction and debris waste
- Animal waste
- Ethanol waste
- Municipal solid waste (sewage sludge or other landfill organics)
- Landfill gas
- Other industrial waste (i.e. paper sludge from paper recycling processes)
Watch this video that explains what Biomass is:Video
Biomass power generation facilities harness the energy stored in such organic materials to produce clean, renewable power. Biomass power plants use this material for fuel, burning it under controlled, low emissions conditions to generate electricity. Biomass energy can be generated by gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, or direct combustion (100% biomass combustion or co-firing with coal at existing coal plants).
In addition to diverting waste from already over-burdened landfills, biomass facilities are also valued for their negative greenhouse gas footprint as they displace more potent greenhouse gas emissions of methane that would otherwise result from the decomposition and decaying of organic materials that occurs as a result of landfill accumulation, forest accumulation or composting. Emissions of methane create 20 times more greenhouse gas effect than the CO2 produced during combustion.
Biomass to electrical power facilities are also considered to be carbon neutral as CO2 emissions generated by combustion is generally offset by the CO2 emissions consumed during the lifecycle of plant material. By comparison, the CO2 emissions released from the combustion of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas) add to the imbalance of carbon emissions in our atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. Furthermore, today’s biomass facilities are outfitted with state-of-the-art pollution control equipment to reduce other air pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen oxides (“NOx”) that would otherwise result from the open burning of biomass or from forest fires.