Biomass energy encompasses a range of different technologies, including biomass combustion, anaerobic digestion, gasification, landfill gas combustion and conversion of biomass to biofuels. In many cases, using biomass resources for energy production can actually reduce harmful environmental impacts, as compared with other means of disposal or dissipation. Even so, today most of that potential energy just goes to waste. Biomass power is changing that.

Allco is co-owner of Western Water and Power Limited, LLC, a New Mexico-based firm with several biomass development projects in its portfolio. The first of these is a 35 megawatt combined heat and power biomass fueled co-generation facility to be located just south of Estancia, New Mexico. The Estancia Project will use highly efficient fluidized bed combustion technology, burning wood waste to provide electricity under a power purchase agreement with a major California utility and selling heated water to a large greenhouse operation with which the plant is co-located. Among the expected benefits of the Estancia project are reduction of wildfire risks, rangeland improvement, watershed improvements, improvements in the emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, as compared with the status quo of wildfires and opening burning, and substantial direct and indirect job creation – including plant jobs, biomass harvesting and transportation jobs and jobs retained (and potentially new jobs created) in the adjacent greenhouse operation.