How small can micro-scale generation be? Size analysis of a novel biomass power plant

In times of an ageing power grid in many developed countries and large shares of non-grid-connected areas in developing countries, alternatives to the conventional power infrastructure of centralized generation and grid distributed power become ever more important. Using locally available energy carriers for micro-scale decentralized generation could provide both energy self-sufficiency and security of supply for remote customers. From a point of view of availability, only biomass can provide ongoing power, and being a renewable energy source micro-scale biomass generation has an enormous potential to shape a new power sector. As most remote regions are sparsely populated, such a power plant must be as small as possible, whilst still providing flexible operation, robust technology and little maintenance efforts. This paper will analyze a range of feasible scales for such a plant, and it will be shown that such generation systems can feasibly be downsized to small regional levels.