Biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plants have higher energy efficiency than biomass power plants. They can meet the demand of heating in winter

and they are more suitable for cold regional village and town system to develop biomass energy. However

such development is limited by cost

especially operation cost

and transportation cost. In order to achieve the research purpose of improvingTo improve the transportation cost of biomass CHP plants according to rural population density data in the research area

the GIS analysis tool of network analysis

adjacent points

overlay analysis

as well as and other methods on the basis of the distribution status of different crops biomass potential are used and position and service area relying on the population distribution and biomass CHP plants’ energy demand data are determined. In the meantime

the raw material supply area of the biomass CHP plants and the transportation cost were calculated

which contains a variety of charges

fuel consumption

and traffic interference factors of the formula

and then regional scale optimization of transportation paths was obtained. Results show that biomass CHP plants are only suitable for low population density villages and towns systems according to the assumption of energy being completely self-sufficient. The supply area presented an inversed S curve pattern as rural population density increased

and transport costs presented an exponential curve pattern as rural population density increased. The overall operating efficiency of the biomass CHP plants was higher when the rural population density was not more than 65 people/km2.