French President Emmanuel Macron in September announced plans to convert the country’s two remaining coal-fired power plants to biomass. A brief whitepaper issued by FutureMetrics LLC on Oct. 2 predicts how those conversions could boost demand for wood pellets.&nbsp;The whitepaper, authored by FutureMetrics President William Strauss, explains the two coal-fired facilities have a combined nameplate capacity of 1.6 GW. France aims to convert them to biomass by 2027. The Cordemais Power Station has two coal-fired units, each with a capacity of 630 MW. Those units fire imported bituminous coal. Emile Huchet Power Station has one coal-fired unit with a capacity of 647 MW. That unit fires regionally sourced lignite coal.According to FutureMetrics, all three units are based on pulverized coal technology, which requires fuel to be pulverized into very small particles for use in the burners. For biomass-based fuels, the only suitable solid fuel that can be milled to the needed particle size in the plants’ coal mills is pellet fuel, Strauss explained.&nbsp;The Cordemais Power Station already utilizes port facilities to import coal, and is therefore positioned to import large quantities of pellet fuel, according to Strauss. Data sourced from an online dashboard that complements the white paper shows that the two plants would require approximately 4.78 million metric tons per year of white pellets.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;The U.S. exported 1.01 million metric tons (MT) of wood pellets in August, up from both 651,698 MT in July and 819,986 MT in August 2022, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on Oct. 5.&nbsp;The U.S. exported wood pellets to nearly 20 countries in August. The U.K. was the top destination for U.S. wood pellet exports at 558,943 MT, followed by Denmark at 157,802 MT and Japan at 133,415 MT.The value of U.S. wood pellet exports reached $183.07 million in August, up from $112.86 million in July and $144.34 million in August of last year.&nbsp;Total wood pellet exports for the first eight months of 2023 reached 6.24 million MT at a value of $1.15 billion, compared to 5.83 million MT exported during the same period of 2022 at a value of $1 billion.&nbsp; &nbsp;Carbon Streaming Corp. will provide Microsoft with carbon removal credits from a biochar project colocated at a wood pellet production facility in Waverly, Virginia. The biochar project is being developed by Restoration Bioproducts LLC at the site of Wood Fuel Developer LLC’s 100,000-ton-per-year pellet mill. Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkin announced plans for the biochar project in August 2022, with the company announcing groundbreaking a few months later. According to information released by Youngkin’s office, Restoration Bioproducts will use pyrolysis technology to convert waste wood from the mill into biochar and syngas. The company expects to invest $5.8 million into the project over three years. According to Carbon Streaming, the project is expected to deliver up to 10,000 MT of carbon dioxide removal credits per year toward Microsoft’s carbon-negative target. It is expected to produce approximately 140,000 bone dry tons of biochar over 25 years and remove more than 262,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Japan has been dramatically increasing its wood pellet imports for its feed-in-tariff (FIT) program, with wood pellet imports expected to reach an estimated 4.25 million bone-dry tons (BDT) this year, according to a report filed with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service’s Global Agricultural Information Network in August.&nbsp;Wood pellet imports reached an estimated 3.74 million BDT last year, up from 2.64 million BDT in 2021 and 1.72 million BDT in 2020. Wood pellet imports are currently expected to reach 4.25 million BDT this year. Approximately 54% of 2022 wood pellet imports came from Vietnam, with 31% from Canada and 7% from the U.S.In addition to imported wood pellets and domestic sources of biomass, palm kernel shells (PKS) are also used to fuel biomass power facilities. Starting in April 2024, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to introduce mandatory sustainability requirements for PKS for use in the FIT program. The report predicts that these new sustainability requirements could slow the import of PKS in the future.&nbsp; &nbsp;Enviva recently named Glenn Nunziata as the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. Most recently, Nunziata served as the chief financial officer of Smithfield Foods Inc. Prior to his tenure at Smithfield Foods, he held various positions of increasing responsibility at EY, most recently as a partner in assurance services. Nunziata holds a Bachelor of Science and a master’s degree in accounting from James Madison University&nbsp; &nbsp;Drax announced the appointment of Miguel Veiga-Pestana to the new executive committee role of chief sustainability officer. Prior to Drax, Veiga-Pestana held the executive committee role of chief sustainability officer and head of corporate affairs at the British multinational consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser. He has also been chief communications officer at the executive leadership level for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and worked for 11 years at Unilever, where he was vice president of global external affairs and sustainability.&nbsp; &nbsp;A coalition of environmental groups is working to prevent U.S. wood pellet producers from accessing the 48C Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit, a tax credit established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and expanded with a $10 billion investment under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.&nbsp;Manufacturers and other entities that invest in qualifying advanced energy projects are able to apply for the tax credit, which equals 30% of qualified investment costs for projects that meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements, and 6% for projects that don’t meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.&nbsp;Qualifying projects are those that re-equip, expand or establish an industrial or manufacturing facility to produce or recycle specified advanced energy property; install technology in an industrial or manufacturing facility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20%; or re-equip, expand or establish an industrial facility to process, refine or recycle critical materials.&nbsp;The U.S. Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service, in partnership with DOE, earlier this year announced up to $4 billion in a first round of the 48C tax credit. Concept papers were due Aug. 3. Enviva is among the companies pursuing the tax credit. During a second quarter earnings call held Aug. 3, Enviva Chief Financial Officer Shai Even confirmed the company has applied for the 48C tax credit in relation to the company’s wood pellet plants under development in Epes, Alabama, and Bond, Mississippi. The Epes plant is under construction and expected to be operational in mid-2024. Enviva is working to finalize an EPC contract for the Bond facility with an expected in-service date in 2026.The coalition of environmental groups on Sept. 27 sent a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm urging the Biden administration to prevent Enviva and other wood pellet producers from accessing the benefits of the 48C tax credit. Within the letter, the groups make the often-debunked claim that biomass energy is more carbon intensive than fossil-based energy sources.&nbsp; &nbsp;The USDA Forest Service is making nearly $50 million in grant funding available to support wood energy projects.The Wood Innovations Grant Program aims to expand and stimulate U.S. wood products markets and wood energy markets to support forest management. Focus areas include mass timber, renewable wood energy, and technological development that supports hazardous fuel reduction and sustainable forest management. The Forest Service expects to award up to $20 million, with individual awards ranging from $10,000 to $300,000. Applications for the program are due Dec. 15.The Community Wood Grant Program provides grants to install thermally led community wood energy systems or to build innovative wood product manufacturing facilities. The agency noted that the program places extra emphasis on assisting sawmills in economically challenged areas to retool or add advanced technology. It expects to award up to $6 million under the Community Wood Grant Program, with individual awards ranging from $10,000 to $1 million. Applications are due Dec. 15.&nbsp;The Wood Products Infrastructure Assistance Program aims to provide support for facilities that purchase and process byproducts of ecosystem restoration projects, including applications to establish, reopen, retrofit, expand or improve a sawmill or other wood-processing facility in close proximity to federal or Indian lands that need ecosystem restoration and will generate byproducts. The program focuses on areas of unnaturally severe fire or insect or disease infestation. The Forest Service expects to offer up to $23.3 million under the program, with individual awards ranging from $50,000 to $1 million. Applications are due Dec. 1.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Core Industries has entered into an agreement with CM Biomass to construct a wood pellet processing and storage facility in Mobile, Alabama, according to information released in July by the Mobile Chamber and Industrial Development Authority.As part of the agreement, Core Industries will receive, store and load wood pellets for shipment. The company plans to invest $8.75 million to construct two 27,600-square-foot warehouses at its existing location in Theodore, Alabama.CM Biomass operates a wood pellet plant in Jackson, Alabama, and recently acquired a facility a pellet mill in Washington County, Alabama. According to the Mobile Chamber, the new processing facility in Theodore will allow CM Biomass to enhance the distribution and logistics capabilities for those pellet plants.

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A roundup of recent wood pellet indutry news, including an analysis of expected new wood pellet demand in France, data on U.S. wood pellet exports, a proposed biochar project planned for colocation with a wood pellet mill, and Japan's growing wood pellet market. 

Pellet News Roundup 

Pellet News Roundup

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