State Spotlight: Wyoming

In 2001, the state of Wyoming consumed a total of approximately 776 trillion Btu of energy. Of that, the majority of energy was provided by coal, at 65 percent. Petroleum and natural gas account for most of the remainder, with 20 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Slightly more than one percent of the state's energy is supplied by hydroelectric power and little less than one percent supplied by biomass resources.1 Approximately 787, 223 annual dry tons of biomass is available in the state of Wyoming for biomass energy production. Of this, urban wood wastes constatute the majority of the state's biomass resources at 295, 638 dry tons per year. Urban wood wastes include yard trimmings, wood packaging, and other miscellaneous household and commercial wood wastes. Forest residues, which consist of logging residues, salvable dead wood, and small pole trees and saplings, have the potential to provide up to 196,000 annual dry tons in Wyoming. Up to 171,585 dry tons per year of agricultural residues are potentially available in the state, including materials such as corn stover and wheat straw. Finally, mill residues, consisting of bark and other residues from pulping mills, could provide up to 124,000 dry tons of biomass each year in Wyoming.2 Energy programs in Wyoming are managed by the Wyoming Business Council's State Energy Program. The program works to expand opportunities for alternative or renewable energy use in Wyoming using domestic fuels or resources. There is currently no available information on current biomass projects in Wyoming.3 According to the Renewable Fuels Association, the national trade association for ethanol, Wyoming Ethanol operates an ethanol production facility in Torrington. The facility currently produces up to 5 million gallons of ethanol per year of ethanol, primarily from corn.4 Several financial and policy incentives for the use of biomass energy exist in Wyoming. The Renewable Energy Sales Tax Exemption waives the state excise tax for equipment purchased for a project that is designed to generate electricity from renewable resources, including biomass. Wyoming also has interconnection standards and net metering programs in place.5 Data Sources: EIA and EERE Calculations for biomass Btus are estimated to be 12,000 Btu/kWh 1Energy Information Administration. Table 7: Energy Consumption Estimates by Source, 1960-2001, Wyoming. Available: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/sep_use/total/use_tot_wy.html 2Biomass Feedstock Availability in the United States: 1999 State Level Analysis. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Updated January 2000. Available:http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/resourcedata/index.html*Note: $40/dry ton cost data was used in this article. 3Wyoming Business Council State Energy Program. Available:http://www.wyomingbusiness.org/business/energy.aspx 4Renewable Fuels Association. Plant Locations. Available:http://www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/locations/ 5DSIRE Database: Wyoming Incentives for Renewable Energy. Available:http://www.dsireusa.org/library/includes/map.cfm?State=WY&CurrentPageId=1