Officials working on the renovation plans for the UW-Madison Charter Street Heating Plant are now in the process of searching for possible biomass suppliers to fuel the future plant.
The plant currently burns coal, but once the renovation is completed it will burn both natural gas and biomass fuels, according to Troy Runge, director of the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative.
He said using natural gas and biomass, which is any plant material including wood, corn or shrubbery, is more environmentally friendly and generally better for breathing.
According to Runge, who is also the chair of the panel responsible for finding biomass suppliers to serve the plant, discussions with local farmers and businesses are currently underway.
""We have to figure out who's got what and what are they looking for in terms of money,"" he said. ""We know there is enough biomass, it's just whether there are enough businesses to supply that mass.""
Runge added, however, that the current discussions are more of a ""survey"" intended just to get an idea of suppliers that might be interested.
""We're hoping to get a very large response rate because we want to learn about what people are interested in doing,"" he said.
Runge said three boilers will run on natural gas and the fourth will use biomass. The decision to use the biomass, he said, was originally Gov. Jim Doyle's idea to begin to ""develop a biomass market"" in Wisconsin.
According to a UW-Madison news release, the plant's renovation is expected to cost about $250 million and will consume about 250,000 tons of biomass each year.
The plant's construction is expected to begin in 2011 and be completed by 2013.
