Oct. 4—Regional air quality regulators have renewed the federal permit a Northern California company needed before converting an idle biomass plant near Delano into a clean-burning power generator fueled by local ag waste.
Rancho Cordova-based Clean Energy Systems wants to turn the former Covanta Delano LLP plant at 31500 Pond Road — which until 2015 turned 1,200 tons per day of woody waste into 50 megawatts of electrical power — into a high-tech facility that would use gasification to produce synthesis gas and bury byproduct carbon dioxide underground.
No timetable was available Wednesday for how soon CES might restart the plant. Vice President Rebecca Hollis said Tuesday the facility is among multiple projects the company is looking to undertake with development partners. In late 2021, the company’s CEO said the plant could reopen in 2026 with between 35 and 50 employees.
“It’s just taking time,” Hollis said.
The permit issued Monday by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Contrl District is valid through Aug. 31, 2027, subject to payment of permit fees and compliance with various local, state and federal regulations.
CES’ Delano project, estimated to cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars, is among several proposed around Kern that aim to accept biomass such as ag waste or dead forest wood and turn it into energy through gasification. In most cases, plans call for burying the resulting CO2 stream and using combustible syngas as transportation fuel. Some variations would involve producing hydrogen or biochar.
An update on the project’s Kern County permitting process was not available Wednesday.
Ag waste has for years posed a challenge to farmers and air quality regulators. Vineyard and orchard trimmings used to be burned openly, and that polluting practice resumed after several Central Valley biomass power plants were closed about a decade ago because of competition with more efficient forms of renewable energy. More recently, some Central Valley biomss has been ground up and reincorporated into soil.