On May 6, 2014 I posted a blog entitled &ldquo;<a href="http://www.biomassmagazine.com/blog/article/2014/05/biomass-is-base-load">Biomass is Base Load</a>".The blog was essentially an airing of my own frustration at how biomass is often an overlooked form of renewable energy in the mainstream media. I&rsquo;m sure you can all relate. Again and again, wind and solar carry the broader public persona of renewable energy at large. The problem is, by looking over biomass and letting biomass derived energy recede in the public&rsquo;s consciousness, myths and half-truths find fertile ground in the mind of Joe and Jane Citizen and take root.
Look no further than this Sunday&rsquo;s New York Times. A lengthy, well written piece by Justin Gillis, who writes frequently about energy and climate change appeared in the A section, just below the fold. The piece&rsquo;s title? <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/science/earth/sun-and-wind-alter-german-landscape-leaving-utilities-behind.html?rref=science/earth&amp;module=Ribbon&amp;version=context&amp;region=Header&amp;action=click&amp;contentCollection=Environment&amp;pgtype=article">Sun and Wind Transforming Global Landscape</a>.&nbsp;The article is well-written and certainly worth your time. In it, Gillis catches up with the ongoing transformation of Germany&rsquo;s energy infrastructure and the global implications of that shift. He even introduces the reader to the word Germans use to describe this transformation, energiewende. To be fair to Gillis, he does mention biofuels and biogas in the article, but he&rsquo;s also guilty of propagating one of the more frustrating inaccuracies for those of us working in biomass. In his piece, while talking about the challenges of folding renewables into Germany&rsquo;s power mix he writes, &ldquo;The Achilles&rsquo; heel of renewable power is that it is intermittent, so German utilities have had to dial their conventional power plants up and down rapidly to compensate.&rdquo;
There it is again. Renewables are intermittent. Some renewables are intermittent. Biomass is not. Most frustrating for me is that while Gillis does talk about biogas, he doesn&rsquo;t mention that biogas is not only base load power, but in the right situations also able to be quickly dispatched to cover the intermittency of our wind and solar cousins.&nbsp;
Finally, Gillis&rsquo;s article makes no mention of Germany&rsquo;s impressive pellet sector. With production over 2 million tons per year, Germany is Europe&rsquo;s largest manufacturer of wood pellets. Germans largely consume wood pellets for residential heat which was outside of the scope of Gillis&rsquo;s story, so I&rsquo;ll give him a pass there as well.
As I stated in my &ldquo;Biomass is Base Load&rdquo; blog, I can&rsquo;t resist energy stories in mainstream media and I look forward the day that I read a story in an outlet like Wired or the New York Times that gives biomass its due.&nbsp;
In other news:
Last week we sent the October issue of Biomass Magazine to print. While editing the issue I was really impressed by the guest column from Michele Rebiere from Viridis Energy. In her column she offered three trends she anticipates seeing emerge in 2015. One of those trends was that 2015 may be the year when new pellet capacity construction peaks and begins to slow a bit and larger industry players add capacity through acquisition. Rebiere asserted what many following this industry have been wondering for some time now. This aggressive capacity build out can&rsquo;t last forever, right?
Interestingly enough, within hours of reading Rebiere&rsquo;s column, we ran a <a href="http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/10923/enviva-to-develop-2-pellet-plants-in-north-carolina">story about Enviva</a> announcing the development of two new pellet facilities in North Carolina. The day before that we ran a <a href="http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/10901/nfr-bioenergy-to-develop-bagasse-pellet-projects-in-louisiana">story about NFR</a> BioEnergy looking to deploy pellet making capabilities at sugar refining hubs and the day before that we ran a <a href="http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/10897/biomass-power-louisiana-signs-engagement-letter-for-pellet-plant">story about Biomass Power Louisiana</a> signing an &ldquo;engagement letter&rdquo; for their new production facility near Natchitoches. Perhaps that slowdown will show up in 2016?&nbsp;
Miami Bound:
Look for a more involved release on this, but I'm thrilled to have been asked to moderate a panel at this year's <a href="http://www.theusipa.org/agenda.htm">Exporting Pellets Conference</a>, hosted by our good friends at the U.S. Industrial Pellet Association. I'll be moderating a panel on supply chain at 4:30 on Thursday. One of the presenters is Scott Jones of the Forest Landowners Association who I met at last year's conference and have communicated with frequently since. Russ Hagen from Plum Creek, Adam Anderson from T. Parker Host and Steve Rzehak from Mid-Ship Group round out the panel.&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Biomass continues to get marginalized in most conversations in the mainstream press about renewable energy. Thoughts on 2015. See you in Miami.

Left Out of the Energiewende?

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