Pellet plant draws statewide attention

July 31, 2007

STEELE CITY

On a day last week that Gov. Charlie Crist announced a new 75 megawatt, waste-wood biomass plant in Liberty County, Jimmy Cheek talked about cellulosic ethanol research and listened onsite to the numbers involved with Green Circle Bio Energy's wood pellet plant in Jackson County.

The pellet plant in Steele City will produce 200 loads a day and require 350,000 acres of timber to support, project consulting engineer David Melvin told Cheek, the University of Florida's senior vice president of agriculture and natural resources. Then Jackson County Development Council Bill Stanton added another number to the mix: 1.1 billion pounds.

That's how many pounds of wood pellets the plant expects to produce annually, Stanton said.

"That's a lot of wood pellets," Cheek said.

As construction continues rapidly at Green Circle's wood pellet plant, the Jackson County facility has attracted statewide attention for its plunge into renewable energy production, local and state officials said Thursday.

The company's CEO and president, Olaf Roed, spoke at the 2007 Farm to Fuel Summit in St. Petersburg, put together by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

This was Cheek's second Farm to Fuel summit. He said this year's conference differed from the 2006 event, with more people in attendance and a broader range of interests represented in St. Petersburg.

"The tenor was much more upbeat about biofuels," Cheek said, noting that the summit had attracted venture capitalists from other parts of the country.

Stanton also attended the summit.

Conversations at the summit centered around ways to convert potential alternative energy sources such as switchgrass, sugar cane and citrus refuse into fuel on a mass scale, Stanton said.

He said Green Circle's plant, which is scheduled to start production by the end of the year, attracted attention in part because it represented something tangible in all of the summit's discussions about renewable energy.

"It was a real project, where as everything else was speculative," Stanton said.

Pellets will be shipped by rail to Port Panama City, where they'll be stored in a bulk warehouse before shipment to Denmark and Germany for industrial power plant use, Melvin said.

Part of the electricity Green Circle uses in pellet production will come from methane gas supplied by Alabama and West Florida Electric Cooperatives, Melvin said, while the rest will come from hydropower sources.

Green Circle broke ground on the plant in February, the same month as Colorado-based Range Fuels announced plans for a $225 million wood-based ethanol plant in Soperton, Ga.

Cheek said UF researchers are looking for a new site to develop cellulosic ethanol.

He said the Legislature approved $20 million for the university this year to build a demonstration ethanol facility.

According to The Gainesville Sun, the plant is expected to initially produce 1 to 2 million gallons of ethanol per year, with a projected opening date of July 2008.

The plant would use E. coli bacteria to produce ethanol from plant material including sugar cane residue and fallen tree limbs, the Sun reported.

Green Circle's facility, plus UF's plans for cellulosic ethanol and Liberty County's new plant, show that the state can produce alternative energy, Cheek said.

Thinking long-term, Florida needs to develop trees more suited for energy purposes, Cheek said.

"We've got to get started with projects to develop new fuel sources," Cheek said.

Range Fuels' Georgia project is funded by Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm Khosla Ventures.

Cheek said that, in addition to scientific challenges, the renewable energy industry also must attract enough venture capitalists willing to invest $100 to 200 million in a Florida facility.

Wisconsin Pellet Fuel Firms Receive State Grants

Tuesday 31 July 2007

Two Wisconsin pellet fuel manufacturers received funds from the state's Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection's 2007 Agricultural Development and Diversification grant program.

Great Lakes Renewable Energy Inc. of Rice Lake will receive $25,000 to develop wood pellet fuel from timber harvest waste, a by-product of paper production and other timber-based industries. Agrecol Corp. of Madison will receive $46,000 to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study to develop a bioheat business based on converting native grasses into biomass fuel pellets.

"Innovation and diversity are our strengths," says Rod Nilsestuen, Wisconsin's Secretary of Agriculture. "These projects were selected for their demonstrated ability to add value to agricultural products, help farmers and create jobs."

Pellet Fuel: Green Heat for Your Home

Plan Ahead, Order Your Pellet Fuel Now

    ARLINGTON, Va., June 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pellet fuel
manufacturers urge pellet stove, furnace and boiler homeowners to stock-up 
on environmentally friendly pellet fuel before the 2007 heating season
begins in September.

    Summertime is the ideal time to lock-in your fuel cost for the year by
taking advantage of current supplies. Order at least 50 percent of your 
annual fuel needs for your pellet appliances during the summer months,
suggests industry insiders. Using pellet fuel, you can save money on your
heating bills while burning a renewable fuel that is good for the
 environment.

    "We can't stress enough the importance of buying pellet fuel before the
season hits," said Don Kaiser, Pellet Fuel Institute executive director.
"The fuel is readily available, and consumers may find dealers offering 
pre-season promotions with early-purchase incentives."

    Pellet stoves, boilers and furnaces are efficient home heaters thanks
to state-of-the-art technology that helps control the fuel-to-air ratio
 within the heating appliance and ensures almost complete combustion of the
fuel. This technology generates minimal wood smoke, making pellet
appliances the lowest emission solid-fuel burning heating product available 
today, and a popular choice in areas where air quality is an issue.

    Pellet fuel is the perfect choice for people that often experience high
home heating bills due to fluctuating energy costs. More than 3-times 
efficient than cordwood, pellet fuel is made from sustainable sources and
its low moisture content allows for maximum burn and minimum particulate
exhaust. On average, western homes use two tons of pellets fuel per season 
and in the colder east, it jumps to three tons.

    So, don't wait. Be wise and buy now while the inventory is high.

    The Pellet Fuels Institute, located in Arlington, Virginia, is a non-
profit association dedicated to promoting the use of wood pellets and other 
biomass fiber fuels.

Sumita Town in Iwate to Subsidize 3/4 of Pellet Stove Purchase Price

Sumita Town of Iwate Prefecture, Japan, has announced that it will subsidize three-quarters of the purchase price of pellet stoves (installation cost excluded) starting from fiscal 2004 for a limited time.

The eligible recipients of the subsidy are residents and business entities in the town. Pellet stoves produced both in Japan and abroad will be covered with the plan. The details, including the maximum funds to be provided under the subsidy, are under consideration.

Pellet stoves use pellets made of wood biomass such as bark and wood meal as fuel. Currently, basic models sell at high prices, from 200,000 to 400,000 yen (U.S.$1,900 to U.S.$3,700), presenting a major obstacle to sales.

Sumita Town, about 90 percent of which is covered by forests, has been making a strong effort to introduce wood biomass energy. In 2003, the town built wood pellet production lines in mills, and started to produce and sell wood pellets. It has installed pellet stoves in public facilities such as schools. The new subsidy is intended to promote the use of pellet stoves at home.

New Wood Pellet Manufacturing Plant Opening In Corinth

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Workers at Corinth Wood Pellets are just days away from opening up what could become the largest wood pellet manufacturing plant in the country, with plans to produce more than 140,000 tons of wood pellets each year.

When the first two pellet making production lines are running it's estimated there will be about 30 full time workers. When Corinth Wood Pellets adds a third line there could be 40 employees.

Workers are busy this week getting the pellet manufacturing plant ready to go. They've moved into the site of the former Corinth Products and Higgins Lumber Mill.

Ken Eldredge is a manager at the plant and he says there is worldwide demand for the pellets, used in wood stoves, because the price of wood is more constant than oil.

Construction Begins on Largest Wood Pellet Plant in United States Schuyler Wood Pellet Will Heat 40,000 Homes

Schuyler NY – New England Wood Pellet LLC today announced that it has begun construction of its Schuyler New York wood pellet manufacturing plant.  At 100,000 tons per year of wood pellet production, the plant will be the largest wood pellet manufacturing facility in the United States, and produce enough renewable energy annually to heat 40,000 homes.

The $12 million plant will be located in the Schuyler Business and Industrial Park on Route 5 just east of Utica, within sight of the NY Thruway.  Schuyler Wood Pellet will have about 20 employees when production begins in May 2007.  An estimated 75 additional jobs will be created by the facility in trucking and retailing.  Schuyler Wood Pellet will infuse the local economy with over $10 million in expenditures annually.

"We're extremely excited about our new location in Schuyler," said Steve Walker, President and CEO of New England Wood Pellet at a ground-breaking ceremony today.  "It's perfectly located to supply homeowners and businesses in Utica, Syracuse and the rest of central New York, where pellet shortages have been severe in recent years."

Attending the ground-breaking was NY Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-Utica), long a champion of environmental and renewable energy issues in Congress.  Congressman Boehlert is retiring this year after 24 years in Congress.  "As a strong supporter of advancing alternative energy and job creation, I welcome New England Wood Pellet to the beautiful Mohawk Valley" said Boehlert.  "Not only will this new facility produce enough energy to heat 40,000 local homes - it will also create close to 20 full time jobs and strengthen the local tax base.  Today's announcement is yet another example of how working in partnership at all levels of government delivers results and improves the quality of life in our region."

The plant will produce premium grade wood pellet fuel from a variety of clean wood waste, including sawdust, wood chips, shavings and grindings from wood product manufacturing plants throughout central New York State.  These residues are dried and ground to a fine sawdust, and compressed into ¼ inch diameter pellets – a clean, energy-dense and convenient fuel that can be burned in pellet stoves, furnaces and boilers.

New England Wood Pellet was aided greatly in identifying and securing the site by the Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency, which owns the business park.  The park is located in an Empire Zone, which provided the company with certain incentives created by the State of New York to encourage new job creation in economically depressed regions of the state.

The company is accepting inquiries from potential new retailers and institutional, commercial or industrial users of wood pellets interested in large-scale heating or power generation.

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Based in Jaffrey NH, New England Wood Pellet is on track to be the largest manufacturer and distributor of wood pellet fuel in the U.S.  The company recently announced that it had begun operations of its Palmer MA packaging and reload center, where over 80,000 tons per year of wood pellets are being imported from British Columbia, Canada, bagged and distributed throughout the northeast.  The company expects to make an announcement within a month on a second new 100,000 ton/year plant, elsewhere in the northeastern U.S.

Wood pellets a growing business, wood consumer

Date:  April 2, 2006

Charlie Niebling sees the closing of the Fraser Papers Inc. pulp mill in Berlin as part of a painful, but necessary shift from paper manufacturing to renewable energy development in the Northeast.

"Anything that grows ultimately can be turned into an energy-dense fuel that can be combusted cleanly," Niebling said. "I think there's a very bright future for the forests of northern New England as an energy source."

Niebling, long a spokesman for responsible forest management as former executive director of the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association, and former policy director at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, is now advocating for policies favorable to alternative energy as public affairs coordinator for New England Wood Pellet LLC, of Jaffrey.

The company, which makes fuel pellets from compressed sawdust, can use waste sawdust from lumber mills. But to feed growing demand, it is buying more hardwood logs and chips, which it grinds and dries.

Even before Hurricane Katrina sent heating oil, propane and natural gas prices soaring last fall, pellet stoves were flying out of stores. New England Wood Pellet, the biggest fuel supplier in the region, was unable to meet the demand for its product.

It installed a third pellet-making machine last summer and will add another this spring, bringing its capacity to 100,000 tons a year. It also plans to build new plants in west-central Massachusetts and central New York State in the next year and a half, Niebling said.

"We think the future of pellet fuel isn't in pellet stoves -- it's in large-scale boilers and furnaces" and electric generating plants, Niebling said. "We're in the early phases of a technological revolution."

That technology already is well-advanced in Europe, Niebling said. While there are regulatory hurdles to importing pellet-burning furnaces and boilers, he predicts those barriers will fall soon, thanks to a national push for greater energy independence.

"There's just tremendous potential there that we've barely scratched the surface of," he said.

At least one prominent innovator agrees. Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway and head of DEKA Research & Development in Manchester, recently joined the board of New England Wood Pellet.

"He's providing oversight and guidance" as the company expands, Niebling said.

Kamen could not be reached for comment.

Originally posted at: http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/04/02/wood_pellets_a_growing_business_wood_consumer/