1. Impact of a renewable biomass energy power plant in urban landscape with complex terrain in Central Italy: modelling assessment and suggestions for monitoring site Gabriele Curci 1, Paolo Tuccella 1, Giovanni Cinque 2, Guido Visconti 1 1 CETEMPS - Dip. Fisica Università dell’Aquila, Italy gabriele.curci@aquila.infn.it 2 HIMET S.r.l. L’Aquila, Italy EGU 2011, 8 April, Vienna

2. RENEWABLE BIOMASS ENERGY: AN ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICIST/CHEMIST’S POINT OF VIEW CO2 Biomass energy plant Fossil fuels Energy CO2 neutral cycle CO2 net source Very nice!

3. RENEWABLE BIOMASS ENERGY: AN ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICIST/CHEMIST’S POINT OF VIEW CO2 Biomass energy plant CO, NOx, SOx, VOCs, aerosol But … aerosol, ozone Climate impact Air Quality impact incomplete combustion (10-60% C mass) Acidification, Euthrophica- tion Landuse impact

4. NEW INSTALLATION SITE: L’AQUILA

5. NEW INSTALLATION SITE: TOPOGRAPHY AND WINDS NIGHTDAY shallow winter PBL* - night 150 ± 100 m - day 600 ± 300 m * [Cinque et al., 2000]

6. POLLUTANT LEVELS: AIRBASE L’AQUILA STATION 180 µg/m 3 50 µg/m 3 no ozone exceedances several PM10 exceedances Suburban station, representative of an area ~50 km 2

7. MODELLING ASSESSMENT AT LOCAL SCALE: CALMET/CALPUFF Biomass plant Weather station Mesoscale Weather model (MM5): 3 km resolution Weather Station + + Topography 250 m Landuse 250 m + = 3-D meteorological fields (winds, T, RH, PBL, turbulence, …) at 250 m resolution CALMET meteorological processor

8. MODELLING ASSESSMENT AT LOCAL SCALE: CALMET/CALPUFF CALPUFF dispersion model CALMET meteo fields Point source EMISSIONS PUFF MODEL sketch from D. Jacob GRIDDED SURFACE CONCENTRATIONS gas: SO2, NOx, HNO3 & aerosol: SO4, NO3, PM10

9. POINT SOURCE EMISSIONS AND PREVIOUS ASSESSMENT Biomass power plant characteristics Power5.5 MW Energy Production40 GWh/year Energy needs for13,500 familes Biomass fuel60,000 tons/year Forestry25,000 tons/year Poplars cultivation15,000 tons/year Pruning5,000 tons/year Cost30 M€ Emissions in air SOx11.629 kg/h NOx13.291 kg/h PM101.744 kg/h CO6.645 kg/h VOC0.581 kg/h NH 3 2.492 kg/h Estimated impact on air quality * NO 2 +16 µg/m 3 SO 2 +6.3 µg/m 3 PM10+0.96 µg/m 3 Radius of influence < 1 km * FUTURIS AQUILANA S.R.L. (the building firm) http://www.collettivo99.org/site/?p=2501

10. SAMPLE CALPUFF OUTPUT: SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO2) 6-7 January 2008 Biomass Plant Residential areas and Villages All CALMET/CALPUFF simulations with US EPA recommended configurations

11. IMPACT ON SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO2) January 2008July 2008 Monthly average impact Peak impact Declared: +6.3 µg/m 3

12. IMPACT ON NITROGEN DIOXIDE (NO2) January 2008July 2008 Monthly average impact Peak impact Declared: +16 µg/m 3 NO2 threshold of 200 µg/m 3 exceeded!

13. IMPACT ON PARTICULATE MATTER (PM10) January 2008July 2008 Monthly average impact Peak impact Declared: +0.96 µg/m 3

14. SUGGESTED MONITORING SITE EU DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC ANNEX III B. Macroscale siting of sampling points (e) Where contributions from industrial sources are to be assessed, at least one sampling point shall be installed downwind of the source in the nearest residential area. Where the background concentration is not known, an additional sampling point shall be situated within the main wind direction. No residential area perfectly aligned with main wind direction. Two suggested sites: 1.Closest site to the main wind axis 2.Site aligned to secondary wind direction

15. CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK Biomass energy is an attractive solution for mitigation of climate change, but has drawbacks related to its impact on landuse and air quality that should be considered We applied CALMET/CALPUFF to the case of L’Aquila future biomass power plant and found that the source may episodically yield exceedances of NO2 and PM10 within 1-2 km from the source The impact of plant emissions are limited to 5-6 km along the main wind axis (valley), but hit residential areas Further verification of results against model assumptions is recommended Assessment of the optimal monitoring site not yet conclusive