Renewable Surprise: Big New Biomass In Georgia

http://www.earthtechling.com/2013/08/renewable-surprise-big-new-biomass-in-georgia/

by Pete Danko

Posted on August 16th, 2013 

The latest federal accounting of new electrical generation going into service is another disappointing one for renewable energy, after last month’s downer, as natural gas dominated new capacity added in July.

According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [PDF], 199 megawatts of new capacity came online in July and 144 of it was natural gas.

Loblolly pine is the most commercially important tree species in the southeastern United States (image via Wikimedia Commons)

In a surprise, the big contributor to new renewables in the past month wasn’t wind or solar but was biomass:  a 40-megawatt biomass system, using logging residual, at Graphic Packaging International’s operation in Macon County, Georgia.

When the company announced the project several years ago it said that by upping its investment in biomass – which was already being used to generate 90 percent of the paperboard mill’s process steam and 60 percent of its electrical power – it would be able to idle a coal-fired boiler. That would trim greenhouse gas emissions by 50,000 tons per year. Electricity produced would also reduce its grid load enough to curtail another 340,000 tons of CO2 emissions.

The company had said the high-efficiency biomass boiler and 40-MW turbine generator would cost as much as $80 million, but would “further the Company’s sustainability strategy, reduce energy costs and to improve the profitability of the Macon mill in advance of expected increases in electricity costs.”

New wind was nonexistent in July, as the industry continues to realign after last year’s near-death production tax credit experience. Through the first seven months of the year, wind has added 959 MW compared to 3,773 MW in the same period last year.

Solar came through with 11 MW in July, giving it 1,071 MW for the year, ahead of last year’s 842 MW at the same point in the year. Remember, that’s utility scale solar; the smaller stuff on residences and businesses, of which there is oodles going in, isn’t counted in that figure.

Tilbury Power Station completes final day of operation

http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/9311/tilbury-power-station-completes-final-day-of-operation

By Erin Voegele | August 13, 2013

The U.K.’s largest biomass power plant is completing its final day of operation. RWE npower has announced that the 750 MW Tilbury Power Station will generate power for the last time on Aug. 13.

The facility, originally fueled with coal, operated for 46 years.

In 2008, RWE made the decision to opt out the then 1,100 MW coal-fired power plant under the E.U.’s Large Combustion Plant Directive, a regulation that aims to reduce sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions from power stations and other large industrial facilities. The decision to opt-out meant that the plant would shut down after either 20,000 hours of operation or the end of 2015, whichever was sooner. However, in 2010, RWE elected to use the remaining hours of operation to trial the use of 100 percent biomass.  The action effectively reduced the plant’s production capacity to 750 MW. The conversion was completed in late 2011.

According to information released by RWE on Aug. 12, the second phase of the conversion would have required the closure of the plant under the LCPD and the development of a full-scale biomass conversion to meet new environmental standards. It would have taken approximately two years to complete the upgrades. Information released by the company specifies the move would have allowed the plant to operate for an additional 10 to 12 years.

According to the RWE, the U.K. Department of Climate Change confirmed that the TIlbury project is ineligible for the new Contract for Difference Support mechanism for lower carbon technologies. As such, the company said it will not proceed with the second phase of the conversion. RWE attributes the decision to the fact that the conversion is not economically viable under the existing Renewable Obligation mechanism.

Recent statistics released by the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change indicate that power generation from plant biomass in the U.K. increased by 69 percent during the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same quarter of the prior year, rising from 1.1 terawatt hours (TWh) to 1.8 TWh. The increase is attributed to the Tilbury power plant becoming fully operational.

Data provided by RWE states that the Tilbury plant generated 1.27 TWh of power during the first quarter of this year. That is more than 10 percent of the 12.4 TWh of total renewable electricity generated in the U.K. during the same three-month period.

“This is a sad time for everyone at Tilbury Power Station, but I would like to personally thank all of our staff past and present who have contributed to the success of the station, particularly in the delivery of such a pioneering development for UK biomass,” said Nigel Staves, manager of Tilbury Power Station. “Tilbury remains an excellent site for power generation and RWE will now review future plans for the site. The lessons learned from the successful biomass conversion will be shared across the RWE Generation portfolio, as RWE remains committed to exploring new energy technologies that can provide energy solutions that are both affordable and sustainable.”

Judge dismisses case against biomass plant

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/judge-dismisses-case-against-biomass-plant/nZFKt/

Posted: 3:23 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, 2013

By April Hunt

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

An administrative law judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a group of DeKalb County residents opposed to a proposed biomass plant near Lithonia.

Judge Amanda Baxter said the Citizens for a Healthy and Safe Environment, or CHASE, did not respond in a timely manner to various court orders in its challenge to a state air permit for the facility.

Green Energy Partners had secured the state permit for the $60 million facility on Rogers Lake Road, which calls for burning wood chips to create energy that it will sell to Georgia Power. County Commissioners approved a rezoning chance for the plant in 2011, and company officials plan to break ground on the facility later this year.

Biomass Plant & Jobs Headed to Lithonia

http://www.gpb.org/blogs/georgia-works/2013/08/02/biomass-plant-jobs-headed-to-lithonia#

By Chip Rogers 
 Posted August 2, 2013 1:50pm (EDT) 

Georgia has become a national leader in the production of Biomass material for energy production

Green Energy Partners has been given the green light by an administrative law judge to construct a biomass plant in Lithonia, GA.

The facility will be located on 21 acres and will cost $60 million to construct.

Green Energy will ultimately sell the energy it creates to Georgia Power.

The construction process is expected to create more than 100 jobs.Once complete the facility will employ 25 people or more on a full-time basis.

Dogwood Alliance launches campaign against logging for energy

http://www.mountainx.com/article/50340/Dogwood-Alliance-launches-campaign-against-logging-for-energy

By David Forbes on 05/29/2013 04:05 AM

From the Dogwood Alliance:

May 28, 2013 – Southern forests are being burned for electricity, and a new campaign announced today aims to put an end to it. Dogwood Alliance and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have launched “Our Forests Aren’t Fuel” to raise awareness of an alarming and rapidly-growing practice of logging forests and burning the trees as fuel to generate electricity

At the forefront of burning trees logged from Southern forests for electricity are some of Europe’s largest utility companies, including Drax, Electrobel and RWE. Rising demand by these companies has resulted in the rapid expansion of wood pellet exports from the Southern US. The American South is now the largest exporter of wood pellets in the world. Recent analyses indicate there are twenty-four pellet facilities currently operating in the Southeast, and sixteen additional plants planned for construction in the near-term. Market analysts project that annual exports of wood pellets from the South will more than triple from 1.3 million tons in 2012 to nearly 6 million tons by 2015. All of the South’s largest domestic utilities, including Dominion Resources and Duke Energy, are also beginning to burn wood with plans for expansion in the future.

“This rapidly expanding trend of burning trees for energy will both accelerate climate change and destroy forests,” said Danna Smith, Executive Director of Dogwood Alliance. “Southern forests not only protect us from climate change, but protect our drinking water, provide habitat for wildlife and contribute to our quality of life. We need these companies to stop burning trees for electricity and embrace a clean energy future that helps to protect, rather than destroy forests.”

“With the advancement of clean, renewable energy alternatives, the growing practice of burning trees for electricity is a major step in the wrong direction,” said Debbie Hammel, Senior Resource Specialist of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Our Forests Aren’t Fuel lets the public know about the extent of this ecological devastation and calls on utilities to end the practice. It’s an even dirtier form of energy production than burning fossil fuels, it destroys valuable southern ecosystems, and it isn’t necessary.”

Energy from burning trees – or biomass – has been widely promoted as a form of renewable energy along with technologies like solar, wind, and geothermal. Over the past two years, however, mounting scientific evidence has discredited biomass from forests as a clean, renewable fuel. Recent scientific reports document that burning whole trees to produce electricity actually increases greenhouse gas pollution in the near-term compared with fossil fuels and emits higher levels of multiple air pollutants. This fact, combined with the negative impacts to water resources and wildlife associated with industrial logging have discredited whole trees as a clean fuel source. But current European and U.S. renewable energy policies and subsidies encourage the burning of trees as a “renewable” source of energy for power generation, helping to facilitate the rapid increase in demand for trees from Southern forests to burn in power plants.

Consequently, a new industry is spawning in the South. Companies like Maryland-based Enviva, the South’s largest pellet manufacturer, are grinding whole trees into wood pellets to be burned in power stations in Europe while also supplying wood to domestic utilities like Dominion Resources. New evidence that Enviva may be relying at least in part on the harvesting of wetland forests has recently emerged. Georgia Biomass, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the German utility RWE Innogy, is also manufacturing millions of tons of wood pellets annually to be burned in European biomass facilities.

“Our Forests Aren’t Fuel” organizers reveal the scope and scale of the growing biomass industry through a series of case studies on the campaign website that include wood pellet manufacturers, domestic utilities, and European utilities. Particular emphasis is placed on the following companies:

· Enviva - one of the largest manufacturers of wood pellets in the U.S. and Europe, with manufacturing facilities and partner facilities in Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia. The Bethesda, Maryland-based company has an annual production capacity of more than 590,000 tons. It also operates a deep water terminal at the Port of Chesapeake, which has the capacity to receive and store up to three million tons of woody biomass annually. Much of its product is sold and shipped to European utilities, like Drax. Leftover biomass “residues,” like tree tops and limbs, are sold to domestic utilities, like Dominion Resources.

· Drax – major United Kingdom-based utility that recently shifted focus from co-firing biomass in coal power plants to full conversion of its largest plant to biomass. Drax has begun building pellet mills directly through its wholly owned subsidiary Drax Biomass. In December, 2012, Drax announced it will build Amite BioEnergy pellet mill in Gloster, Mississippi, and Morehouse BioEnergy in Bastrop, Louisiana, to supply wood pellets for use in its power plants, with production set to begin in 2014.

· Dominion Resources – the Richmond, Virginia-based utility recently launched several biomass operations that could well rely on whole trees in the near future. Its 83 megawatt plant in Pittsylvania, Virginia, is one of the largest biomass power stations on the east coast. Dominion is also converting three existing peak power coal-fired power stations into full-time biomass-burning facilities. The utility currently sources much of its biomass material as “residues” from wood pellet manufacturers like Enviva that export the bulk of its product to European markets. Should the supply of these residuals become limited, Dominion’s operations could increasingly rely on burning whole trees.

Full case studies for companies driving the biomass industry can be found on the “Our Forests Aren’t Fuel” website, http://www.dogwoodalliance.org/campaigns/bioenergy/, along with recommended actions for those concerned about losing southern forests for electricity, and a list of more than 70 supporting environmental groups.

UK biomass plant exploded from Waycross wood pellets

http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/2013/05/uk-biomass-plant-exploded-from-waycross-wood-pellets.html

May 27, 2013

Explosions in Tilbury, England, explosions in Waycross: south Georgia wood pellet dust blowing up here and there and producing CO2 when burned there. Why is “the world’s largest wood pellet plant” a better use of Georgia foresters’ resources than solar farms, which don’t pollute and don’t explode?

Josh Schlossberg wrote for The Biomass Monitor 24 May 2013, Biomass Industry Plays With Fire, Gets Burned,

A massive fire raged inside wood pellet silos for RWE’s Tilbury Power Station in Essex, UK, on February 27, 2012. The biomass incinerator—the largest in the world at 750 megawatts—had just been converted from coal to woody biomass a month earlier. RWE claims no single cause can be attributed to the fire, but suspects that smoldering wood pellets triggered the dust fire.

In a recent editorial (apparently not online), Robert Farris Executive Director of the Georgia Forestry Commission, wrote that Georgia has nine wood pellet plants. He didn’t name them, but Biomass Magazine has a list of U.S. wood pellet plants, including these in Georgia (I added the City column):

Company	Plant	City	State	Feedstock	Capacity
Enova Energy Group – Gordon	Enova Energy	Gordon	GA	Softwood	550,000
Enova Energy Group – Gordon	Enova Energy	Warrenton	GA	Softwood	550,000
First Georgia BioEnergy	First Georgia BioEnergy	Waynesville	GA	Softwood	38,000
Fram Renewable Fuels LLC	Appling County Pellets LLC	Baxley	GA	Hardwood and Softwood	200,000
Fram Renewable Fuels LLC	Fram Renewable Fuels – Hazlehurst	Hazlehurst	GA	Softwood	500,000
Fulghum Graanul Oliver LLC	Fulghum Graanul Oliver LLC	Oliver	GA	Hardwood and Softwood	200,000
General Biofuels	General Biofuels – Georgia	Waynesville	GA	Softwood	440,000
RWE Innogy	Georgia Biomass	Waycross	GA	Hardwood and Softwood	825,000
SEGA Biofuels LLC	SEGA Biofuels LLC	Nahunta	GA	Softwood	150,000
Varn Wood Products	Varn Wood Products	Hoboken	GA	Softwood	80,000

That’s ten; maybe another has opened lately. Biomass Magazine lists RWE Innogy as in Savannah, but according to Georgia Biomass PR of 26 May 2011,

Georgia Biomass held its official ribbon cutting ceremony in mid-May at its new operation just outside Waycross, Ga., hosting dignitaries and officials from around the world at the opening of the world’s largest wood fuel pellet plant. The facility, scheduled to be at full capacity by this fall, can produce up to 750,000 metric tons annually.

 The facility is a venture of major German utility RWE and its bioenergy subsidiary, RWE Innogy. According to RWE Innogy CFO Hans Bunting, the Georgia Biomass project came in two months ahead of schedule and under budget. RWE COO Leonard Birnbaum noted the almost $200 million plant is only a small part of the $8 billion a year RWE invests worldwide, but is very important to the company, which is the world’s largest biomass buyer and biomass power producer. The company operates more than 50,000 giga watts of power capacity, “But the challenge is provide more of this energy sustainably,” he added.

A good portion of the plant’s output may be heading to RWE’s existing coal-fired plant in Tilbury, United Kingdom, which is being converted to biomass and would become the largest biomass-fired power plant in the world.

And less than a year later the Tilbury plant got fired up all right, burning and exploding using south Georgia wood. That February 2012 Tilbury explosion was after the Waycross plant exploded in June 2011. Teresa Stepzinski wrote for Jacksonville.com 21 June 2011, Explosion damages Waycross plant; no injuries reported

An explosion damaged the Georgia Biomass wood pellet processing plant near Waycross early Monday, crippling production at the factory that began operations a little more than a month ago.

No injuries were reported in the blast that occurred about 8 a.m. at the plant in the Waycross-Ware County Industrial Park about five miles west of Waycross off U.S. 82 and U.S. 1.

“It did extensive damage to the processing end. … They’ll probably be down an extended period of time,” Ware County Fire Chief Dennis Keen told the Times-Union.

An explosion here, and explosion there: pretty soon we might be wondering why we want “the world’s largest wood pellet plant” in south Georgia.

Georgia Biomass claims it’s carbon neutral, which we know isn’t true for biomass from trees. It was our local Industrial Authority making that very claim that convinced me as a tree farmer that biomass was a bad idea. They didn’t just try to pass off a stack of powerpoint slides as peer-reviewed research, they also, according to the VDT, made up a fake timeline. Lack of carbon neutrality is one of the reasons the VSU faculty senate voted to oppose that plant.

Fortunately, the Executive Director who tried to bring us that local biomass project is gone, and the Industrial Authority has since moved on to solar projects. But there’s still a wood pellet plant in Waycross, turning our local forests into fuel for a biomass plant in England, producing more CO2 and making climate change worse, affecting us back here that way, too.

When I paid my annual dues to the Georgia Forestry Association (GFA is a private organization not to be confused with the state agency Georgia Forestry Commission), I wondered whether Georgia tree farmers might find solar panels a better investment. I was told GFA is constantly talking to Georgia Power, so we’ll see.

Ever heard of an exploding solar panel? Me neither.

-jsq

German company to open wood pellet factory in Urania

http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20130418/BUSINESS/304180018/German-company-open-wood-pellet-factory-Urania?nclick_check=1

Apr 18, 2013
Written by Jeff Matthews

The world’s largest wood pellet plant is coming to one of the smallest towns in Central Louisiana.

German Pellets will begin work immediately on a $300 million plant in Urania that is expected to create 500 jobs, officials with the company and Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance announced Wednesday. The plant is expected to be operational in the spring of 2014.


“We are ecstatic about the decision by German Pellets to locate in Urania,” said Rick Ranson, vice president-major employers for CLEDA. “German Pellets is a premier company and this is an historic announcement, not only for Urania and LaSalle Parish, but also the entire Central Louisiana region.”


“Pellet consumption worldwide is on the rise, especially in Europe,” said German Pellets Chief Executive Officer Peter Leibold. “This means that the construction of large production capacities is necessary.”


Demand for wood pellets from the European power plant market for the generation of electricity has risen sharply, according to a company release. There is also increasing demand for the product to generate heat for private consumers and larger scale users such as schools and hospitals.


Wood pellets are made from wood shavings and sawdust pressed into a cylindrical shape. The plant in Urania is expected to produce one million tons of pellets per year.


It’s the second major project recently announced in Central Louisiana involving the wood industry and renewable energy. Sundrop Fuels is building a plant near Alexandria that will convert wood waste and natural gas into gasoline.


CLEDA officials are hoping to see more in the future.

“There’s a lot of activity in that sector, so this is an important play for us,” said CLEDA President Jim Clinton. “Plus, it’s foreign direct investment. That’s what you always like to see, bringing in capital from outside the region.”


“I tell people wood is our oil,” Ranson said.

Founded in 2005, German Pellets is the leading manufacturer of wood pellets in Europe. Its first U.S. plant — in Woodville, Texas — has roughly half the capacity of the planned plant in Urania.

 

Database of Woody Biomass Energy Gets Upgraded, Expanded

http://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/Database-of-Woody-Biomass-Energy-Gets-Upgraded-Expanded-203303151.html

Posted By Mark Vruno | 04/16/2013 6:32:00 PM 

GREENVILLE, SC – A three-year-old database of industrial and selected community-scale users of wood-to-energy facilities across North America has been updated and expanded, reports the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment). The improved site -- www.wood2energy.org -- is a searchable database open to anyone with interest in the state of wood-to-energy conversion at a national, state/provincial or local operating level.

Through the Woody Biomass Joint Venture – a partnership between the USDA Forest Service and the Endowment – recent updates to the Wood2Energy database ensure that it serves as the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of users and processors of wood for energy, e.g., electric facilities, thermal installations, pellet mills, etc.

Partners thoughout the biomass industry as well as state and federal agencies have worked to improve the usability and accuracy of the database and recently began including thermal installations, such as schools and government offices.

Wood2Energy project manager Mladen Grbovic says it now has reviewed and updated for accuracy more than half of the existing U.S. facilities. “The systems will only get better as people share information and their experience with accessing the system," Grbovic adds.

Carlton Owen, the Endowment president, noted, “This type of information is vital to making sound planning and business decisions for expansion of wood as an energy source while protecting sustainability of North America’s rich forested estate.”

Biofuels Digest’s 10-Minute Guide to Obama’s New Energy Policy

http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2013/03/18/biofuels-digests-10-minute-guide-to-the-obama-administrations-new-energy-policy/

Jim Lane | March 18, 2013 

 

Major push from Obama on energy. 

 

From DOE: “Liquid fuels demand can be sufficiently reduced so that biomass can meet all liquid fuel needs.”

 

What’s up? What is an Energy Security Trust, anyway? The Digest’s 10-Minute Guide tells all.

 

In an address at the Argonne National Laboratories on Friday, President Obama said:

“You see, after years of talking about it, we’re finally poised to take control of our energy future.  We produce more oil than we have in 15 years.  We import less oil than we have in 20 years…But the only way we’re going to break this cycle of spiking gas prices for good is to shift our cars and trucks off of oil for good.  That’s why, in my State of the Union Address, I called on Congress to set up an Energy Security Trust to fund research into new technologies that will help us reach that goal.

“I’m proposing that we take some of our oil and gas revenues from public lands and put it towards research that will benefit the public, so that we can support American ingenuity without adding a dime to our deficit…devising new ways to fuel our cars and trucks with new sources of clean energy – like advanced biofuels and natural gas – so drivers can one day go coast-to-coast without using a drop of oil.

“And in the meantime, let’s keep moving forward on an all-of-the-above energy strategy.  A strategy where we produce more oil and gas here at home, but also more biofuels and fuel-efficient vehicles; more solar power and wind power. We can do this.”

A companion study released the the Department of Energy was, in its way, more ambitious and more specific: “TEF does not project that all liquid fuels will be eliminated from the future transportation sector, but rather that demand can be sufficiently reduced so that biomass can meet all liquid fuel needs.”

The Energy Security Trust. Is it a new idea? 

No. In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to create an Energy Security Trust Fund, which would free American families and business from painful spikes in gas prices. The President’s plan builds on an idea that has bipartisan support from experts including retired admirals and generals and leading CEOs, and it focuses on one goal: shifting America’s cars and trucks off oil entirely.

 

How does it work?

Over 10 years, the Energy Security Trust will provide $2 billion for critical, cutting-edge research focused on developing cost-effective transportation alternatives. The investments will support research into a range of technologies – things like advanced vehicles that run on electricity, homegrown biofuels, and domestically produced natural gas. It will also help fund a small number of real-world experiments that try different transportation techniques in cities and towns around the country using advanced vehicles at scale.

 

Does it involve new taxes?

No. The funding will be provided by revenues from federal oil and gas development, and will not add any additional costs to the federal budget.

 

President Obama’s complete remarks are where?

They’re here.

 

Does the White House’s have a short take on the Energy Security Trust?

Yep. Here you are.

 

What is the Transport Energy Futures (TEF) study?

It’s a new study from the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory that finds the United States has the potential to reduce petroleum use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector by more than 80% by 2050 – and proposes pathways towards that goal.

 

What is the strategy?

• Stopping Growth in Transportation Sector Energy Use
• Using More Biofuels
• Expanding Electric and Hydrogen Technologies

 

What’s the overall 15-point Obama Energy Strategy, again?

1. Challenges Americans to double renewable electricity generation again by 2020.
2. Directs the Interior Department to make energy project permitting more robust.
3. Commits to safer production and cleaner electricity from natural gas.
4. Supports a responsible nuclear waste strategy.
5. Sets a goal to cut net oil imports in half by the end of the decade.
6. Commits to partnering with the private sector to adopt natural gas and other alternative fuels in the Nation’s trucking fleet.
7. Establishes a new goal to double American energy productivity by 2030.
8. Challenges States to Cut Energy Waste and Support Energy Efficiency and Modernize the Grid.
9. Commits to build on the success of existing partnerships with the public and private sector to use energy wisely.
10. Calls for sustained investments in technologies that promote maximum productivity of energy use and reduce waste.
11. Leads efforts through the Clean Energy Ministerial and other fora to promote energy efficiency and the development and deployment of clean energy.
12. Works through the G20 and other fora toward the global phase out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.
13. Promotes safe and responsible oil and natural gas development.
14. Updates our international capabilities to strengthen energy security.
15. Supports American nuclear exports.

 

Where’s the Fact Sheet on that?

Right here.

 

Why the transport sector, specifically?

The transportation sector accounts for 71% of total U.S. petroleum consumption and 33% of U.S. total carbon emissions.

 

What are the 9 Interconnected reports that make up the overall TEF study?

1. Deployment pathways issues including the development of, transition to, and challenges of advanced technology
2. Non-cost barriers to advanced vehicles such as range anxiety, refueling availability, technology reliability, and consumer familiarity.
3. Opportunities to improve non-light-duty vehicle efficiency for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, off-road vehicles and equipment, aircraft, marine vessels, and railways
4. Opportunities for switching modes of transporting freight, such as moving freight from trucks to rail and ships.
5. Infrastructure expansion required for deployment of low-GHG fuels, including electricity, biofuels, hydrogen, and natural gas
6. Balance of biomass resource demand and supply, including allocations for various transportation fuels, electric generation, and other applications.
7. Opportunities to save energy and abate GHG emissions through community development and built environment strategies
8. Trip reduction through mass transit, tele-working, tele-shopping, carpooling, and improvement of vehicle performance through efficient driving
9. Freight demand patterns, including trends in operational needs and projections of future use levels.

 

How much biofuels use does the TEF study anticipate?

Up to 100 percent of fuel needs, if the US hits its 2050 fuel efficiency, hydrogen fuel, and electrification goals as well. Even at the EIA baseline projected fuel demand in 2050, biofuels could supply as much as 50 percent of the jet fuel market, and 30 percent of the gasoline and diesel markets if EERE biofuel technology goals are met. Getting to the point where biomass could provide 100 percent of vehicle liquid fuels requires reducing the need for fuel through the efficiency and demand management measures described above, including deployment of electricity or hydrogen fuel alternatives.

 

Will this require an avalanche of infrastructure?

Some. “While new fuel types require new infrastructure, the share of infrastructure cost within total fuel costs is very small (1.5-3 percent), and these costs can be made up for in fuel cost savings of more efficient advanced vehicles.”

 

Where can I start to dig deeper into the overall plan and the TEF study?

You can start here at the TEF home page.

 

Who was responsible for TEF?

TEF is a collaboration between EERE, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The project benefitted from the input provided by a steering committee that included some of the nation’s foremost experts on transportation energy from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), academic researchers, and industry associations.

 

What is NEPA and what is happening there?

NEPA is the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970, a product of the Nixon Administration.

 

Er, Nixon? What’s new there?

The President’s strategy includes requiring federal agencies, under NEPA’s authority, to include climate change impact in reviewing proposed projects. For example — leases to drill for coal, or export coal to China, or construct oil pipelines like the Keystone XL pipeline, could be reviewed not only for air pollution and water fouling, but for overall greenhouse gas impact.

 

Are the changes in NEPA reviews ho-hum, or a big deal?

Big deal. Brendan Cummings, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity told Bloomberg that the result will be “a major shakeup in how agencies conduct NEPA” reviews.

 

Does the President have this authority under NEPA?

Generally, yes. NEPA grants a right of Federal review of proposed projects for environmental impact — and climate change certainly falls broadly within that category. The devil is going to be in the details — after all, how much specific contribution to a problem like climate change be attributed to a single project?

 

Is a NEPA review capable of derailing a project?

No. A NEPA review is, at the end of the day, aimed at producing a thorough vetting process, rather than a specific outcome. Projects go through NEPA reviews — there is a robust commentary opportunity — but regulators, in the end, make decisions on permits. NEPA does establish a forum for introducing or reviewing data that will be used in a regulator’s decision — or, in lawsuits that may be filed to reverse a ruling.

 

Overall, is there going to be opposition from the right on the Energy Security Trust?

Forbes’ Houston-based energy columnist Christopher Helman writes: “This is a terrible idea — and a backdoor to the imposition of a nationwide carbon tax — that congress should not allow to pass.

“There is absolutely no reason why we need a dedicated Energy Security Trust to fund the national labs, or to fund any kind of alternative energy research. If congress wants to fund research it can pass a bill to fund research…Isn’t congressional appropriation how the federal government is supposed to pay for such stuff?

“Then consider that the Department of Energy has in recent years built up an insanely terrible record of wasting taxpayer money by directing funds to private companies, many of which have simply gone belly up (but not before paying lavish bonuses to executives).

 

Why is there opposition from the left?

Here’s some flavor. “This approach will only encourage more dirty energy production…[and] doesn’t create any additional cost for using fossil fuels, thus creating no incentive for firms to divert resources into safer, cleaner and more renewable sources of energy,” Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s energy program, told bizjournals.com.
 

Georgia Southern University center opens pilot pellet mill

http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/8620/georgia-southern-university-center-opens-pilot-pellet-mill

By Georgia Southern University | February 08, 2013

 

Georgia Southern University’s Herty Advanced Materials Development Center has opened the first fully-integrated pilot pellet mill in the United States. The new production line, located in Savannah, Ga., includes a nearly $2 million investment in process equipment. The facility will provide a much-needed platform for innovation in process technology and pellet design in the U.S. and will help rising global demand for biomass pellets in Europe and North America.

With the introduction of the new mill, Herty will work with technology providers and developers to help validate a number of product development projects. The team will also support researchers working to enhance pellet design and will develop methods for lowering operating costs.

Pellets, formed from wood and bioenergy feedstocks such as miscanthus and switch grass, are highly regarded as an effective, alternative energy solution because of their relatively high energy density and ease of handling. Pellets can also be easily integrated into existing electric power generating plants as a fuel. As a result, the pellet industry has witnessed tremendous growth as major European countries, which have adopted mandates for greenhouse gas emissions, are using biomass pellets at unprecedented rates. Most of the growth in Europe has come from imports.

According to a recent report from the U.S. International Trade Commission, annual global imports of wood pellets have grown from virtually zero to more than $1.5 billion during the last decade.

However, research into improving the production of pellets, as well as optimizing pellet operation and composition has lagged behind industry growth.   Developers, manufacturers and researchers will now be able to benefit by having a flexible, integrated production facility that can produce pellets with properties that are consistent with those achieved in large-scale commercial facilities.

“For more than 75 years, Herty has been helping companies in a variety of industries develop and validate new processes and products,” said Alex Koukoulas, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Georgia Southern’s Herty Advanced Materials Development Center. “This new pilot mill is a first and will help address a global need.  The new mill will serve as a valuable testbed by helping our clients confirm product performance  and operating efficiencies and before they commit to an investment in full-scale manufacturing.  Ultimately, the Savannah-based facility will help companies lower technical risk and accelerate delivery."

“To be a part of a larger mandate, assisting in clean energy solutions, promoting a cleaner environment and impacting Georgia’s economic growth makes our efforts here at Herty all the more meaningful,” said Jill Stuckey, director, biomass development. Herty’s pellet mill and production facility provides access to both advanced technology and to new product development capabilities and support.

Capabilities and services include:

- Biomass preparation and pretreatment
- Biomass testing
- Pellet analysis

Biomass power plant to open at Georgia paper mill

 http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/8577/business-briefs

By Staff | January 30, 2013

Green Power Solutions will open a biomass-fueled power plant in Laurens County, Ga. The project is the culmination  of more than 18 months of collaboration between Beasley Forestry Products and Land Care Services. The facility has received approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission and will be located at an existing paper mill that was recently purchased by SP Fiber Technologies LLC. The planned capital expenditures will allow Green Power Solutions to provide steam required for the paper mill’s daily operation, and also generate 56 MW of electricity to feed the grid. The company will provide base load power, which will be sold to Georgia Power Co. under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

British firm to build Miss., La. wood pellet mills

http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/British-firm-to-build-Miss-La-wood-pellet-mills-4117774.php

By JEFF AMY, Associated Press

Updated 1:57 am, Friday, December 14, 2012 

 JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A British power generator will build a pair of mills in southwestern Mississippi and northeastern Louisiana to make wood pellets to burn for electricity in the United Kingdom.

A unit of Drax Group PLC will spend more than $200 million to build mills in Gloster, Miss., and near Bastrop, La., each capable of yearly production of 450,000 metric tons.

The company will invest $120 million in Louisiana, including $30 million to build an export terminal in Port Allen. Bar Littlefield, senior vice president of Drax Biomass International, says the investment in Mississippi will top $80 million.

Drax says it will hire 45 people in Gloster, 47 in Bastrop and 16 in Port Allen. On average in Louisiana, Drax plans to pay $35,000 a year, plus benefits. Pay levels for Mississippi were not released.

Loggers and truckers who will supply trees to be made into pellets will also get more work.
The company plans to start construction next year and begin production in 2014.

Wood pellets are burned by European power plants and industries in an attempt to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Because trees can be regrown, capturing carbon dioxide, burning wood is looked on favorably in attempts to reduce global warming. Drax owns the U.K.'s largest coal-fired power plant, producing 7 percent of the country's electricity.

In many cases, European power companies sign long-term contracts with American firms, which then build and operate the mills. Drax is taking a different course by building them directly.

Drax Biomass is focused on building and operating clean, safe manufacturing facilities that will support local economies, create long-term jobs and interface with local forest industry," CEO Chuck Davis said in a statement.

No pellet plants currently operate in Louisiana. In Mississippi, Enviva L.P. owns a 136,000-metric-ton plant in Wiggins and a 90,000-metric-ton plant in Amory. A number of such mills have been built across the Southeast, although paper mills often eye them warily because they compete for the same size trees.

International Paper Co. closed its Bastrop paper mill in 2009, slashing demand for pulpwood in the region. Gov. Bobby Jindal made new development in Morehouse Parish a priority when the closing was announced. "We committed to working together to get the people in this area back on their feet," Jindal, who made the announcement Thursday in Bastrop, said in a statement. "We talked about making the local communities in this area stronger than before."

Mississippi officials say loggers each year cut down trees equal to only half the amount of new growth, and they've lured other firms that use wood.

"With Mississippi's abundance of biomass resources, our state offers important advantages to businesses that rely on biomass for their operations," Mississippi Development Authority Director Brent Christensen said in a statement.

MDA spokeswoman Tammy Craft said Mississippi will provide Drax $2.63 million in Hurricane Katrina-related federal community aid to improve roads and other infrastructure, as well as $100,000 in cash. Also for infrastructure work, the town of Gloster will give $75,000 and Amite County will give $87,500.

Louisiana will give Drax $1.7 million in aid that wouldn't have to be repaid if the company meets job commitments. Drax is also eligible for benefits including a tax credit on capital investment worth up to $1.8 million, a 10-year property tax break and free job training.

The company will send pellets by rail from Bastrop and by truck from Gloster to Port Allen to load onto ships. In November, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge approved a lease with a Drax unit that will build three storage domes plus unloading conveyors on 10 acres of port property. The port expects revenue of $672,000 in 2014 and $1.6 million in 2015.

Enova announces Port Agreement with Colonial Group

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/10/5044635/enova-announces-port-agreement.html

By Enova Energy Group, LLC

Published: Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 - 1:18 pm

ATLANTA, Dec. 10, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Enova Wood Pellet Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Enova Energy Group, LLC, has entered into a long term port agreement with Georgia Kaolin Terminals, Inc. (GKT) a subsidiary of Colonial Group, Inc.  The agreement provides Enova sufficient port capacity to export up to 1.35 million metric tons per year of wood pellets through Colonial's GKT facility in Savannah, Georgia.  Enova is currently developing a network of three wood pellet production plants in Georgia and South Carolina to deliver wood pellets to GKT via rail.

"This is a tremendous milestone for Enova to partner with a world class terminal operator such as Colonial Group, because it will enable Enova to export the largest quantity of wood pellets through a single port facility in the Southeast," according to Mark Newhart, VP of Logistics and Transportation for Enova.  "The terminal will provide a steady source of income and add new jobs to the community," he added.

GKT was previously used for the export of kaolin clay for the paper industry and is being converted for new opportunities in the biomass market.  Pratt Summers, Assistant Vice President of Operations for Colonial said, "We look forward to this long-term partnership with Enova for the storage and handling of their wood products and the diversification that it adds to our dry bulk terminals."


About Enova Energy Group, LLC. 

Enova Energy Group, LLC (www.enovaenergygroup.com) is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with an additional office in New York City.  Enova Energy Group was founded in 2009 with the goal of becoming a leader in the development and operations of renewable energy facilities in the United States.  Enova's inaugural project is a 37.5MW biomass to electricity project being built in Plainfield, Connecticut of which Enova is the majority owner.  This project will be operational in 2013 and was financed with over $225M in debt and equity arranged and sourced by Enova.

About Colonial Group, Inc.

Colonial Group, Inc. (www.colonialgroupinc.com) is a Savannah, Georgia based group of companies with a focus on energy and port-related activities.  Georgia Kaolin Terminal is a sixty acre bulk marine terminal with twenty-six silos and two shiploaders capable of loading Panamax vessels at 1,000 metric tons per hour.

Contact: Ben Easterlin, 1-770-821-6351

SOURCE Enova Energy Group, LLC

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/10/5044635/enova-announces-port-agreement.html#storylink=cpy

Biomass power plant to open at Ga. paper mill

http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/8406/biomass-power-plant-to-open-at-ga-paper-mill

By Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s office | December 11, 2012

 

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has announced that Dublin-based Green Power Solutions will open a power plant in Laurens County, creating 35 permanent jobs with an initial capital investment of $95 million. This new biomass-fueled plant is the culmination of more than 18 months of collaboration between Beasley Forestry Products and Land Care Services, and it will support up to 200 additional jobs in the forest industry. Having already received approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission, the GPS plant is slated to be the largest renewable energy qualifying facility developed to date in Georgia.

“Georgia is increasingly becoming a go-to location for biomass-based energy ventures, so we are encouraged by Green Power Solutions’ decision to choose Dublin and Laurens County for this innovative renewable energy plant,” said Deal. “Companies such as Green Power Solutions do well in Georgia due in large part to our plentiful forestry resources and existing workforce trained for this industry.”

The GPS power plant will be located at an existing paper mill in Laurens County that was recently purchased by SP Fiber Technologies LLC. The planned capital expenditures will allow GPS not only to provide the steam required for the paper mill’s daily operations but also to generate 56 megawatts of electricity that will be provided to the electrical grid. GPS will provide base load power, which will be sold to Georgia Power Co. under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

“This is a great project that will help the local economy and advance the goal of energy independence by utilizing locally produced renewable resources,” said Tim Kennedy of Green Power Solutions. “We look forward to working with the community as the facility takes shape and begins operations.”

GPS will also construct a new wood yard in connection with the project and expects to utilize in excess of 1 million tons of round wood, bark and other woody biomass annually from the local area.    
“We are excited about the new partnership with SP Fiber Technology and GPS. SP Fiber’s commitment to sustainability growth in our community is without comparison,” said Jimmy Allgood, past chairman of the Dublin-Laurens County Development Authority. “The team at GPS makes this project viable for long-term growth in Laurens County. The Dublin-Laurens County Development Authority completely endorses this new technology for our community, state and nation.”

The Georgia Department of Economic Development collaborated with the Dublin-Laurens County Development Authority to manage this project. GDEcD Regional Project Manager Ryan Waldrep assisted Green Power Solutions on behalf of Georgia.

“Our state’s profile in the renewable energy sector is raised significantly when companies such as Green Power Solutions choose to do business in Georgia,” said GDEcD Commissioner Chris Cummiskey. “Our goal is to be recognized not only as the best place for business, but also as a strategic location for companies in the fast-growing biomass energy industry.”

Construction at the Green Power Solutions plant is scheduled to begin in May 2013, with commercial power plant operations beginning in 2015.