Sammanfattning

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.

Nyckelord

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

Publicerad i

Energy Economics
2020, Volym: 91, artikelnummer: 104913
Utgivare: ELSEVIER

SLU författare

• Aguilar Cabezas, Francisco X

  • Institutionen för skogsekonomi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen

SDG7 Hållbar energi för alla
SDG8 Anständiga arbetsvillkor och ekonomisk tillväxt


UKÄ forskningsämne

Energisystem


Publikationens identifierare

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

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

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