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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2020

Localized economic contributions of renewable wood-based biopower generation

Dahal, Ram P.; Aguilar, Francisco X.; McGarvey, Ronald G.; Becker, Dennis; Abt, Karen L.

Abstract

We assessed the role of renewable wood-based biopower generation in supporting local economies by deriving multiplier effects from a sample of U.S. power plants representing 348.3 MW of installed capacity (1.2 million MWh of power generation for 2016) with annual expenditures of over US$117 million. Average annual employment, labor income, value-added, and gross output values associated with the generation of wood-based power were contrasted with those from power generated from coal and natural gas. Economic multiplier effects of localized operation and maintenance expenditures were derived following an input-output analysis. Results, expressed in 2017 US$. show the economic contribution of wood-based biopower was lower (US$123.96 per MWh) than power generated from coal (US$386.55 per MWh) and natural gas (US$989.79 per MW). However, wood-based biopower value-added localized multiplier effects were nearly 20% higher than coal-based power, at US$2.80 per dollar spent in operation and maintenance. Our findings suggest that, after considering sustainability thresholds for woody biomass availability, its expanded utilization could contribute between US$5.00 billion to US$22.00 billion in value-added to local economies across the US. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Biopower; IMPLAN; Economic contributions; Economic multipliers; Net annual woody biomass increase

Published in

Energy Economics
2020, Volume: 91, article number: 104913
Publisher: ELSEVIER

    Sustainable Development Goals

    SDG7 Affordable and clean energy
    SDG8 Decent work and economic growth

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Energy Systems

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.104913

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/108914