Life cycle assessment applied to electricity generation from renewable biomass

International audienceThis work concerns the production of electricity from renewable sources produced from biomass (wood waste) in cogeneration plants. Two facilities are compared: a 2 MW electricity power plant and a 10 MW one. They are also compared to electricity production in a diesel engine cogeneration. The objective is to compare the environmental impact of various power plants, using two different fuels and/or of different power. A detailed LCA methodology is therefore presented. The results - in favor of the 2 MW wood plant but sensitive to assumptions - are then discussed