Chris Sharron’s West Oregon Wood Products compresses mill sawdust and shavings into wood pellets. His plants have a combined production capacity of 80,000 tons annually, and he employs 50 to 60 people.

Five minutes away, his older brother’s SolaGen Inc. employs 15 to 20 engineers, fabricators and support staff who build large, high-tech burners and boilers. The systems burn pellets to heat schools, hospitals and other facilities, saving thousands on heating bills.

All of which sounds great, and Oregon’s 2005 Renewable Energy Action Plan calls for hot pursuit of wind, solar, geothermal, biogas and biomass (wood and other plant material). But the Sharrons, you wouldn’t be the first to call them the Biomass Brothers, say it isn’t simple being retro industrial manufacturers working on the edge of alternative energy. “All renewables have tremendous difficulty competing against fossil fuels,” says Francis Sharron. “We’re an ant that can be squashed at any time.”

From Oregon Live: http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/05/the_brothers_biomass_with_high.html

In a groundbreaking, first-of-its kind program, Maine-grown Pelletco, a leader in patented biomass fuel technology, is offering a limited number of school districts across the Northeast the opportunity to reduce heating expenditures for this coming school year, a savings that could very well mean saving teacher jobs, with no incremental expenditure.

Heating costs are one of the most significant line items in municipal budgets, compounded by the fact that annual increases in fossil fuel prices are hard to predict. As a result, many schools districts are examining alternative heating sources and searching for economic value. Wood pellets provide a viable option.

“With lower levels of sulfur and nitrogen oxide, modern wood-burning systems such as pellets or chips are widely regarded as a more environmentally friendly option than heating oil,” said Pelletco CEO Jim Knight. “Moreover wood pellets offer significant price savings over fossil fuel and propane savings which most school districts really need.”

Pelletco was formed in 2010 to produce, market and distribute patented bio mass fuel technology in North America. The rapidly rising costs of fossil fuels, combined with the need for a more sustainable, renewable and local energy source in the Northeast, drove the company to pursue the development of a new patented high-performance pellet fuel.

The nearly $20 million project will be built on the site of the existing state heating plant not far from the Statehouse and expand the area it heats to other parts of the community.

The plant is designed to reduce toxic air emissions in downtown Montpelier by as much as 11 tons per year and save 150,000 gallons of oil a year. It is expected to save the state $200,000 a year in heating costs.

From VPR News: http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/94370/montpelier-biomass-project-gets-federal-support/

The cutting-edge biomass gasification plant replaces four worn-out boilers that were 64 years old and were first powered by coal and later, natural gas. The new $60 million system will create enough steam heat to power the equivalent of 18,000 homes, said Bob Baugh, director of the lab’s utilities division.

At the lab, it’ll heat about 100 buildings and serve other uses such as sterilizing autoclaves. The conversion from boilers to the gasification plant will save an estimated $3.8 million a year in energy costs, Baugh said.

“The gasification process is very clean-burning,” he said. “It’s cleaner than natural gas.” He said there’s “not a lot of particulate” in the low-oxygen environment where the hydrogen-heavy gas that is created from smoldering wood is routed to an oxidizer. That’s where that synthesis gas is mixed with oxygen and combustion takes place, Baugh said.

The emissions from that process are then filtered before they are released into the atmosphere. “Whatever pollution is generated is well below what we’re permitted for,” Baugh said.

The completed gasification plant has been turned over the Department of Energy and is now in startup mode. Ribbon-cutting is expected next month.

From KnoxvilleBiz.com: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/may/04/wood-chips—tons-of-them—to-power-labs-new/

The wood products company has signed a deal with Pratt & Whitney Power Systems, which will deliver a biomass heat recovery power plant, comprising two Turboden 65 HRS Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbogenerators, to West Fraser’s Chetwynd Forest Industries plant. The timber company has a 20-year electricity purchase agreement to sell 180 GWh/year of wood biomass, from two sites, to utility company BC Hydro.

Turboden is a company of Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.

The Chetwynd plant produces 280 MMfbm of lumber products annually, and the ORC units will use thermal oil from a new biomass system installed to burn the plant’s residual hog fuel. About 50% to 60% of biomass fuel for the ORC units will come from local sawmill operations, and the timber company will buy the rest in the form of logging residues.

The two Turboden systems will be delivered to West Fraser by the end of 2013, with installation and commissioning expected in 2014. Commercial operation is planned by the second quarter of 2014.

From Environmental Leader: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/05/03/west-fraser-timber-company-to-install-13-mw-biomass-plant-sell-power-to-utility/

“This patent represents a game-changing moment for the renewable energy industry,” said Seth Shortlidge, President and CEO of NTE Energy. “Our technology will help generators provide reliable, low cost, efficient electricity, while creating new economic opportunities and jobs. NTE Energy’s hybrid technology creates significant benefits by decreasing use of fossil fuels in power generation, increasing domestic renewable energy production, and providing the forestry and agriculture sectors with solutions for their biomass residuals.”

NTE Energy will utilize this technology in the development, construction and operation of new hybrid renewable power generation facilities located throughout the United States, including projects under development in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. As an alternative, NTE Energy will license the technology to other parties, including independently owned hybrid renewable energy facilities.

“Hybrid technology allows utilities to provide renewable, baseload power from a native biomass fuel that also helps to diversify the regional generation portfolio,” said Mark Daley, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Each facility will also create more than 120 permanent jobs, with hundreds of additional construction jobs to build each plant.”

It will create fewer emissions and lower heating and cooling costs by over $48,000 annually according to a news release.

MCH and Clark Valley Hospital in Plains are the first two hospitals in Montana to use woody biomass heating systems and hope to serve as models for other private and public institutions that are considering this fuel source throughout the region.

Mineral Community Hospital Director of Marketing Monica Ray says the annual energy cost savings will be used to improve patient care at the clinic and hospital. The wood pellets for the system are produced locally at the Eureka Pellet Mill in Superior and will help retain and create timber jobs in Mineral County.

From KPAX 8 News: http://www.kpax.com/news/superior-hospital-set-to-unveil-biomass-project/

Last month State Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark released a report showing that 3 million tons of woody biomass, double the amount that’s currently extracted, can be removed from the state’s forests without hurting forest health. The future is bright, indeed.

But despite the industry’s success, environmental groups are still waging a persistent campaign to try to halt biomass projects around the state. Don Brunell, the president of the Association of Washington Business, had an op-ed that ran recently in several papers calling out the environmentalists for their hypocrisy. According to Brunell, the opposition from environmental groups hits especially hard on the west edge of the state.

The two most visible biomass projects in the works right now are in Port Townsend and Port Angeles. As the Peninsula Daily News points out, environmental groups have been unsuccessful in stopping the projects, and the Port Angeles mayor recently wrote a letter of appreciation to the owner of the proposed biomass plant there.

From One Voice For Working Forests: http://www.onevoiceforworkingforests.com/2012/04/environmental-groups-flip-flop-on-biomass/

The recently completed second phase of the project considered biomass-specific infrastructure needs of the sites. “Phase III will consider transportation assets within 50-mile radii of the two sites,” says Joe Melvin, Director of Business Development for North Carolina’s Southeast. “The goal is to be able to better market these sites to biofuels producers,” Melvin says.

Based in Oxford, N.C., the Biofuels Center is working with the N.C. Southeast and its counterparts in the Charlotte, Eastern and Northeast regions on harnessing the job creation potential of woody biomass, forestry byproducts that can be utilized as a sustainable energy source. The assessment dovetails with promotional efforts N.C. Southeast is now undertaking with its economic development partners and allies.

The new endeavor, somewhat cumbersomely tagged the Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center (JCERDC), also includes solar and energy efficiency components led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The biofuel component totals about $21 million for a team that includes the University of Florida, University of Missouri, Virginia Tech, Montclair State University, Texas A&M University, Show Me Energy Cooperative, and Green Technologies.

The Indian team is headed up by the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, but wait, there’s more. The project is part of a larger endeavor that provides for the U.S. to leverage private sector investment in an international fund focused on developing South Asia’s alternative energy resources.

From Clean Technica: http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/23/u-s-teams-with-india-in-massive-new-biofuel-project/