Beasley Forest Products, LLC operates hardwood sawmills and a chip mill in Hazlehurst, Georgia as well as procurement operations in several southeastern states. Land Care Services, LLC, based in Dublin, Georgia, is a grading and specialty services contractor.

In addition to providing reliable base load power, the facility will furnish all the steam required at an existing paper mill. The plant will utilize annually up to 1.2 million tons of wood bark, chips and other biomass from the local area. GPS plans to create up to 150 construction jobs for the area, 55 permanent jobs, and support more than 200 permanent logging and forestry positions.

Terms of a 20-year power purchase agreement with Georgia Power are being finalized and engineering and preliminary construction activities are ongoing with phase one startup targeted for October 2012. “By tapping into woody biomass to produce electricity, Georgia Power is both continuing to diversify its expanding renewable portfolio throughout the state and doing what’s good for the environment,” says Jaime Hockin, Georgia Power’s renewable and green strategy manager.

Persons interested in participating in the online webinar (video/audio streaming via internet) or attending in person on campus should reply via email in order to receive the webinar link and more details.

Please respond with questions or RSVP to Daniel Reed at: danielreed@tennessee.edu

Program Outline
9:00 Welcome & Introductions
Adam Taylor – University of Tennessee
Ed Cesa – Wood Education and Resource Center

9:15 Pellet Making 101
Jim Robbins – Jim Robbins and Associates, Inc.

10:00 Getting Into The Wood Pellet Business: A Case Study
Paul Stringer – Somerset Wood Pellets

10:45 Break
Coffee and snacks

11:00 Environmental Aspects
Daniel Reed – University of Tennessee

11:30 Markets and Marketing
Chris Knowles – Oregon State University
Daniel Saloni – North Carolina State University

12:00 Wrap-Up & Lunch

The plant will connect to the grid in late 2012. Forest residues and wood based landscaping material will be used for fueling. When in operation, the plant will produce a maximum of 10 megawatts (MWth) of district heat for the Zwickau municipality area and a maximum of 5 MW of electricity for the power grid.

The plant’s commercial viability is supported by the German Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz (EEG), a law that provides fixed feed-in tariffs for electricity produced from renewable sources and secures the payback period of the investment. The project has a significant impact on the local economy through the use of local labor and subcontractor network.

This will be the eighth delivery of such a complete modularized CHP plant to Germany by MW Power. ”Through this investment, we will not only secure the production of district heat for our town but will also reduce our dependence on ever rising oil and gas prices. We are also very optimistic that the price paid for the district heat can be lowered from today’s level”, says Volker Schneider, Managing Director of ZEV GmbH. “We look forward to working with such an experienced supplier as MW Power on the construction of this biomass-fueled plant”, adds Olaf Lüdemann, Managing Director of CEE.

Dominion Virginia Power’s decision to convert its three generating stations in Altavista, Hopewell and Southampton County are likely to have a positive impact on the environment and also benefit consumers. The usage of biomass will lower the emission of green house gas, and biomass will be a cheaper source of fuel compared to coal.

These plants will mainly use waste wood left from timbering operations as a source of fuel. If approved by the local authority and the regulators, the project will begin production from the converted units in 2013.

These units can presently produce 63 megawatts (MW) power each and is only used when demand is at its peak. After conversion, these units will produce 50 MW each, and will remain operative 24×7.

Dominion Resources recently decided to improve and expand the infrastructure of Virginia Power. The company will invest $1.7 billion over 2011–2012, which will focus on construction and expansion of electric generation facilities, environmental upgrades, construction improvements, expansion of electric transmission and distribution assets, and purchases of nuclear fuel.

Dominion Resources is constantly developing its renewable power portfolio and is in course to meet the Virginia and North Carolina legislation passed for renewable power. The company is set to achieve Virginia’s goals of 12% renewable power by 2022 and 15% by 2025 as well as North Carolina’s Renewable Portfolio Standard of 12.5% by 2021.

We appreciate the decision of conversion as it will not only have a positive environmental impact but at the same time provide a financial boost to this region through job creation in forestry and trucking industries and power stations for the next 30 years.

Dominion Resources currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold rating). We also maintain a Neutral rating on the stock. The company competes with American Electric Power Co. (AEP – Analyst Report) and Nisource Inc. (NI – Analyst Report).

Based in Richmond, Virginia, Dominion Resources, together with its subsidiaries, engages in producing and transporting energy in the United States.

Regulators rejected an attempt by opponents to intervene in the company’s application to register two units at its Buck Steam Station plant and three units at its Lee Steam Station as producing renewable energy.

The 370MW Lee power plant in Williamson, South Carolina, started a biomass co-firing trial in July 2009 through the end of the year, generating 1,303 megawatt-hours of biomass power from coal blended with woodchips.

The 369MW Buck power plant in Salisbury, North Carolina, conducted a test in August and September last year generating 2,254MWh of power from coal blended with sawdust and woodchips.

Charlotte-based Duke Energy now plans to continue evaluating co-firing operations at the power plants, using material including wood waste, logging residues, forestry thinnings and woodchips from whole trees.

Opposition

Duke Energy is to use some wood chips from trees cleared from a site to be used as an ash pit, and because the trees are not to be replanted, opponents claimed the material could not count as “renewable” under North Carolina’s renewable energy laws.

Opponents included lobby groups Environmental Defense Fund and Southern Environmental Law Center, along with farm and paper industry groups as well as rival power companies in the state.

However, the Utilities Commission ruled that the list of biomass materials in the state laws was “not an exhaustive or exclusive list” of materials that could count as renewable biomass, and that it had the power to consent materials on a case by case basis.

Commissioner William T Culpepper III ruled that Duke Energy could count wood fuel from whole trees as a “biomass resource” and a “renewable energy resource” under state laws, and may therefore earn renewable energy credits from the power produced.

Paper manufacturers Temple-Inland, Inc., and building products firm Georgia-Pacific attempted to block the Duke Energy biomass power project, concerned at the impact on wood feedstock prices.

The objections were filed 90 days late, with the companies stating that they had not understood the full implications of the biomass project in time.

Duke Energy argued that the objections were “grossly out of time” and merely repeated objections already taken by packaging company MeadWestvaco in the original hearings.

The Commission said there was “good cause” to deny the objections.

The report stated that EU countries will be free to set up separate national programs to promote biomass without binding standards on the origins of the plant or tree matter. To address environmental concerns, the Commission issued recommendations to member states on what types of biomass to avoid, such as material from cleared tropical forests, and to seek biomass feedstocks that offer maximum greenhouse gas reductions compared to fossil fuels. With an EU target for member states to derive 20% of their energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2020, biomass use in the EU is set to increase. Currently, biomass accounts for 60% of the EU’s renewable energy.