Made by Serif

Most studies assume that transporting wood fuel for biomass plants from more than 50 miles away is not economically viable. This map shows “harvesting areas” for each of the large energy-generating biomass plants proposed for Western Massachusetts. A single plant 50 MW in size requires the equivalent of about 650,000 green tons of wood per year for fuel, which translates to over 14,000 acres (over 22 square miles) of heavy logging per plant, per year, according to the state’s own statistics.

50-mile radius wood-supply zones

RED: Pioneer Renewable Energy, Greenfield

YELLOW: Russell Biomass, Russell

BLUE: Palmer Biomass, Springfield

PINK: Tamarack Energy, Pittsfield

GREEN: Pinetree Power, Fitchburg

Dotted yellow lines represent out-of-state plants that have been proposed.

Image from Google Earth

Click here for data on biomass and other energy plants proposed in Western MA.