Biomass can be used to produce energy either by setting up Biomass power plants that utilize only biomass to produce energy or by co-firing biomass with coal in existing coal power plants.

Co-firing biomass with coal is one of the most attractive and easily implemented biomass energy technologies that help in reducing GHG emissions. Biomass can substitute up to 20% of the coal used in the boiler. The biomass and coal are combusted simultaneously. Overall production cost savings can be achieved by replacing coal with inexpensive biomass fuel sources. A proven technology, it is also proving to be life-cycle cost-effective in terms of installation cost and net present value. It is particularly well suited to a stoker boiler. However, it has been successfully demonstrated and practiced in all types of coal boilers. Some tests conducted in power plants have shown that biomass can be co-fired successfully without any major modifications to the coal burner.