Biomass-fired power plant: the sustainability option
Abstract Biomass use for power generation has become an attractive option for the increase of energy production with the increase of efficiency, decrease of environment degradation and waste utilization. Justification of the biomass use benefits requires a multi-criteria assessment based on the evaluation of economic, environmental, technological and social aspects. In this respect, the need for the evaluation of biomass-fired power plant is of great interest for the validation of benefits of biomass resources. The paper presents an outline of a multi-criteria method for the evaluation of the General Sustainability Index as the quality measurement of different potential options of the biomass-fired power plant and their comparison with other new and renewable power plants. A number of options are evaluated with appropriate selection of indicators reflecting economic, environment, technological and social parameters. Among options under consideration there are those reflecting mixed fuel of biomass and fossil organic fuel power plants. Special attention is devoted to the use of constraints giving priority to individual criteria. It is shown that the potential quality merit, which describes the priority of individual options under specific constraint is the potential tool for the energy system evaluation. This decision-making procedure enlightens the potential priority of biomass-fired power plants in comparison with other renewable energy sources.