Svebio teams up with Minnesota's biobusiness alliance

The Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio) and The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota (BBAM) have teamed up to jointly increase the use of bioenergy in Minnesota.

“With Svebio's 30-year experience of growth in Swedish bioenergy and with 300 member companies, we want to help create good examples of solutions in an economically and environmentally optimal solution that best leverages Minnesota's bioenergy resources and creates growth and jobs in the sector” said Gustav Melin, Svebio CEO.

"BBAM has been actively engaged in facilitating technology transfer and commercial development activities between Minnesota and Sweden-based bioenergy actors since 2008,” said Gregg Mast, vice president of BBAM’s Agriculture & Biomass Business Cluster. “Svebio's influence and participation in helping build Sweden's world-class bioenergy industry made the organization a logical partner for BBAM to cooperate with as we seek to accelerate the sustainable development of Minnesota's bioenergy industry.”

The partnership will also be regarded as part of Svebio's increasing activity to promote trade and exports, as bioenergy is an important part of rising Swedish environmental technology exports.

One of the partnership’s goals is to provide assistance regarding the optimal use of bioenergy to a broad base of stakeholders through Svebio's network and BBAM's life science community in Minnesota. Together, the two organizations also aim to advance bioenergy’s position in Minnesota and enhance visibility as well as align interests toward biomass-based energy. The project goal is to support the establishment of a series of biomass-to-energy installations in Minnesota.

Mast said there are a few underway already, including a college campus looking at a biomass-fired district heating system and a Native American tribal community planning to construct a wood pellet plant with a combined-heat-and-power component.

“The cooperation further strengthens the ties between Minnesota and Sweden” said Dale Wahlstrom, CEO of BBAM and LifeScience Alley. “We see this as a catalyst for growth that will help increase demand for bioenergy applications while highlighting the efforts of many small- and medium-sized companies both here and in Sweden.”