The year 2022 looms large over alternative and clean fuel industries participating in the federal renewable fuel standard (RFS). But not for the reason one might initially think. Every day, fuel procurement, project financing and infrastructure investment decisions are heavily influenced by misinformation. Rumor and myth are embraced over statute and fact. Harmful reports of a 2022 RFS expiration persist. Remarkably, however, the ominous date that so many have come to fear is easily demystified once the statutory language of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 is unpacked. The RFS is, after all, a product of law. With a vote of Congress and the president&rsquo;s signature, federal policy was set in motion. And while it grows more complex with each U.S. EPA rulemaking, regulators&rsquo; hands are tied to the statute. The RFS is codified in regulation at 40 CFR Part 80 Subpart M. It is part of the U.S. Clean Air Act, authorized in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and subsequently amended by the EISA. The programmatic goal is to diversify the fuels and sources of fuel that power our nation. To some, the RFS is a means of reducing dependence on foreign oil. To others, it is a subsidy to ethanol run amuck. But as written, at least from 2014 forward, it is unmistakably America&rsquo;s single greatest market driver for the development of low-and ultra-low carbon fuels. The RFS mandates that a percentage of our annual fuel consumption come from renewable fuels, advanced biofuels, and cellulosic biofuels. Gasoline and diesel producers and importers bear the burden of ensuring their share of the fuel meets the annual renewable volume obligation, or RVO.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It is in the context of the RVO that the rumors about the year 2022 begin. EISA Section 202(a)(2)(B) addresses &ldquo;Applicable Volumes&rdquo; for the annual mandate. Clause (i), titled &ldquo;Calendar Years After 2005,&rdquo; contains tables that delineate the applicable volume that the renewable fuel (Subsection I), advanced biofuel (Subsection II), and cellulosic biofuel (Subsection III) categories should meet though 2022. The following text is copied directly from EISA Section 202(a)(2)(B)(i)(III). (III) CELLULOSIC BIOFUEL.&mdash;For the purpose of subparagraph (A), of the volume of advanced biofuel required under Subclause (II), the applicable volume of cellulosic biofuel for the calendar years 2010 through 2022 shall be determined in accordance with the following table: Applicable volume of cellulosic biofuel. Calendar year: (in billions of gallons): 2010 .............................................................................. 0.1 2011 .............................................................................. 0.25 2012 .............................................................................. 0.5 2013 .............................................................................. 1.0 2014 .............................................................................. 1.75 2015 .............................................................................. 3.0 2016 .............................................................................. 4.25 2017 .............................................................................. 5.5 2018 .............................................................................. 7.0 2019 .............................................................................. 8.5 2020 .............................................................................. 10.5 2021 .............................................................................. 13.5 2022 .............................................................................. 16.0 After a cursory review of the tables, somewhere along the way, someone stopped reading and wrongly concluded that because the table ends in 2022, the program must also end in 2022. However, Clause (ii), titled &ldquo;Other Calendar Years,&rdquo; immediately follows Clause (i). It says that &ldquo;for calendar years after the calendar years specified in the tables,&rdquo; (i.e., after 2022), the EPA administrator will set applicable volumes using specified criteria, which are thereafter laid out. (ii) OTHER CALENDAR YEARS. &mdash;For the purposes of subparagraph (A), the applicable volumes of each fuel specified in the tables in clause (i) for calendar years after the calendar years specified in the tables shall be determined by the Administrator, in coordination with the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Agriculture, based on a review of the implementation of the program during calendar years specified in the tables, and an analysis of&mdash; The accurate conclusion? The RFS continues beyond 2022, without sunset and in perpetuity, unless or until another act of Congress shall intervene. It is time that we in the alternative and clean fuels industries stop the rumor mill. We must work together to ensure that fuel procurement, project financing and infrastructure investment decisions are made with reliance on the fact of law that the RFS will continue beyond 2022.
Author: David Cox General Counsel, Renewable Natural Gas Coalition david@rngcoalition.com 916-588-3033

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The year 2022 looms large over alternative and clean fuel industries participating in the federal renewable fuel standard (RFS). But not for the reason one might initially think.

2022: A Cliff for Clean Fuels and the RFS?

When fires occur, especially in biomass energy facilities, a quick response is crucial to worker safety and minimization of facility damage. That&rsquo;s why plant managers rely on a range of equipment to minimize the risk of fires, from spark detection technology to fire suppression systems. And, since fires occur even with the best systems in place, having a backup plan is key. For one Alabama pellet mill, this story is a familiar one. Each year, the mill processes forest products into as much as 303,000 metric tons of wood pellets for use in power plants as a renewable energy source. Before processing the woodchips, the mill stores them in its two 150-foot silos, but they can&rsquo;t be filled and simply forgotten about. Burning Up As the woodchips sit in silos, they begin to naturally decompose and generate heat energy. The heat creates hotspots that can lead to spontaneous combustion. In January, a hotspot caused one silo&rsquo;s woodchips to catch fire inside. With smoldering woodchips inside one silo, the plant needed to act quickly to get the fire put out before it started heating the woodchips in the other nearby silo. The plant&rsquo;s permanent fire suppression system controlled the fire, but because it was using a generous amount of resources, it put the rest of the plant at risk if another fire occurred. The mill needed a backup system. The facility manager contacted Tripp Brown, branch manager of United Pump Rentals Solutions, in Mobile, Alabama, asking for a solution. United Rentals Pump Solutions is a specialty division of United Rentals, one of the largest equipment rental companies in the world. Brown rents and sells temporary pump solutions to customers in Alabama for projects in the municipal, construction, industrial, mining and oil and gas markets. He and his team know that tight deadlines are common in the pump industry and, for many projects, time is of the essence to minimize costly damage and ensure safety of everyone involved. And when customers feel the hot breath of fire start to burn up and damage productivity, finding the right solution quickly is imperative. With a deadline of only two days to bring in equipment and have it ready to start fighting the fire in the plant&rsquo;s silos, Brown needed a simple-to-set-up, cost-effective and environmentally friendly pump solution, and he needed it fast. Picking the Pump Brown had to take into account a few considerations before choosing a pump, one of which was the environment, especially since the river and riverbank area are environmentally protected. Because of this, a hydraulic leak or fuel spill from a diesel-driven hydraulic pump could cause damage and risk the integrity of the habitat and wildlife, as well as possibly contaminate the water supply. That scenario would impose heavy costs for remediation and hefty fines. &ldquo;Because the area was environmentally sensitive we couldn&rsquo;t use a diesel or hydraulic powered pump for risk of contamination if a spill occurred, so we knew we needed an electric pump,&rdquo; Brown says. Brown asked Atlas Copco for help finding the right pump. The plan was to run water from the nearby river through the pump and to a holding tank at the base of the burning silo. The water would then flow through another pump and into the silo to dowse the fire, cooling the hotspots and saturating unburned wood to prevent future hotspots from forming. That way, the plant could remove and dispose of the damaged unusable chips safely. &ldquo;We helped Tripp choose the right submersible pump for the application based on the environmental concerns, required flow, elevation and distance from the river,&rdquo; says Joe Moser, Atlas Copco portable energy product manager. &ldquo;Looking at the situation, their best option was the WEDA 90 electric submersible pump.&rdquo; The WEDA 90 offered the power needed to handle the discharge head from the river and transfer the water up the 70 feet of hose from the river to the silo; a standard centrifugal pump didn&rsquo;t have the suction lift capacity to meet the requirements of the project. The team also had to consider the pump weight. The crane needed to suspend, support and lower the pump into the river with custom 50-foot slings and couldn&rsquo;t handle anything weighing more than 600 pounds. Fortunately, Atlas Copco&rsquo;s WEDA 90 is compact and weighs about 400 pounds, easily fitting within the crane&rsquo;s limitations. After working together to determine the right pump, Atlas Copco shipped the WEDA 90 pump directly to Brown in one day. A Simple Setup Brown and one other United Rentals Pump Solutions member set up the WEDA 90 in about an hour. Brown said the fast and easy setup was another benefit of using an electric pump over hydraulic. Had it been a hydraulic pump, setup could have taken as long as three hours to secure the hydraulic lines and prevent them from ripping or tearing. The team hardwired the pump to the nearby permanent electrical power source and began pumping. The WEDA 90 moved water from the river into a frak tank for temporary water storage at the base of the silo. From the tank, Brown used a diesel pump to control the flow and pump water into a manifold that split the upper column into three separate lines at different stages of the silo for uniform water dispersal. The WEDA pump ran 24/7 for three months, pushing 550 gallons per minute at more than 100 feet total dynamic head. After the water extinguished and saturated the smoldering wood chips, the plant was able to safely extract and dispose of the damaged chips. &ldquo;For this job, the submersible pump was the simplest, most cost-effective and environmentally friendly option,&rdquo; Brown says. &ldquo;It worked so well that the energy plant that originally rented the pump purchased the system for permanent backup fire suppression.&rdquo; Resourceful Results Besides the environmental benefits, the WEDA 90 provided the plant with a less-expensive option than a diesel model. &ldquo;The WEDA 90&rsquo;s power consumption cost us $2,268 per month in kilowatt-hours. If we had used a diesel hydraulic submersible pump, the monthly fuel consumption would equal about $4,240,&rdquo; Brown says. Because the project was planned for six months, Brown saw a projected cost savings of $11,832 over the project duration by using an electric pump rather than a hydraulic model. To purchase a new WEDA 90 costs almost $18,000 less than buying a submersible package with hydraulic lines, and that&rsquo;s not including about $370 spent monthly on maintenance. &ldquo;Both the rental price and operating expenses of using the electric submersible pump were cost effective,&rdquo; Brown says. &ldquo;The WEDA 90 lowered operating costs since it was virtually maintenance free, needing no hydraulic oil changes or filter replacements. And, most importantly, we saved on paying fuel costs with lower electric costs.&rdquo; Putting Out the Fire When a fire emergency happens, innovative thinking and the right fire suppression systems are a must. Having a plan A and a plan B can keep chaos from occurring, minimize damage and increase worker safety. It&rsquo;s also important to not only have enough resources, but the right resources available. Part of any solution also comes through strong partnerships. When a rental center and manufacturer work together closely and quickly to find the best solution, it&rsquo;s guaranteed the customer won&rsquo;t get burned. &nbsp; Contact: Joe Moser Product Manager, Portable Energy, Atlas Copco Construction Equipment 303-898-6978 joe.moser@us.atlascopco.com

Via a rental center, an Atlas Copco electric submersible pump came to the aid of a pellet mill that was experiencing a fire and needed a backup system.

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Having the right fire suppression system and a plan B for when fire emergencies happen are a must for biomass energy facilities. 

A Brilliant Backup Plan 

To supporters of biomass heating and cooling, it sounds like a broken record when we talk about how thermal energy makes up roughly 40 percent of our nation&rsquo;s energy consumption. Yet, it still does not get anywhere near the amount of attention or funding that electricity and transportation fuels receive. Consequently, the Biomass Thermal Energy Council enthusiastically applauded the first-ever inclusion of thermal energy in federal department renewable energy goals in the recently passed, though not-yet-reconciled House and Senate energy bills. The neglect of the biomass industry also applies to its thermal brethren in the solar and geothermal renewable energy industries. While uniting these thermal sectors seems like a logical and laudable goal, this concentrated and coordinated action has not lived up to its potential. Nevertheless, there are signs that change may be in the air. An early example of this was the passage of the Renewable Thermal Bill in August 2014, opening up the Massachusetts Alternative Portfolio Standard to heating and cooling systems that use any of those renewable energy sources, plus others like bio-oils. A robust coalition, including the Solar Energy Industries Association, the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas, the Biomass Thermal Energy Council and the New England Geothermal Professional Association worked together to push the bill across the finish line. The state policy environment in the Northeast has become the epicenter of support for the idea of a unified coalition to support renewable thermal energy. New Hampshire has pioneered the use of a full-on carve-out for thermal renewable energy credits, beautifully dubbed &ldquo;T-RECs,&rdquo; for sustainably produced heating and cooling. A number of other states, including Maryland, Colorado and Indiana, have flirted with the idea or have more limited support for renewable thermal. And, in the past year or so, two large northeastern states, Massachusetts and frenemy New York, have unveiled, respectively, the $30 million Clean Heating and Cooling Program and the $28 million Renewable Heat New York program. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Clean Heating and Cooling program covers solar hot water plus air- and ground-source heat pumps, as well as biomass pellet (and soon, woodchip) heating systems. New York state&rsquo;s program does not incentive any woodchip systems, but it does include pellet and advanced cordwood boilers installed with water thermal storage systems.&nbsp; Anyone with knowledge of statistics knows that three or four points are not indicative of a trend, but these actions will shine more light on thermal. To keep this momentum going, we argue for more collaboration between renewable thermal interests through avenues such as renewable energy conferences, as well as legislative and regulatory participation at state and federal levels (thermal energy tax credits could certainly help).&nbsp; But these actions are still not enough. We also need further standardization. Given that the U.S. and United Kingdom are some of the very few countries in the world that measure heat and electricity differently (the watt for electricity and British thermal unit for heat), the progress of the proposed U.S. national heat metering accuracy standard is crucial to this effort, to which the EPA says: &ldquo;&hellip;manufacturers would no longer compete in the market on accuracy, but instead compete on product cost and other features [&hellip;] standardization would instill confidence in parties who exchange payments for useful energy delivery and could support greater confidence in the deployment of renewable heating and cooling technologies through innovative third-party financial structures such as energy purchase contracts. This benefit also extends to several states that have included thermal energy as an eligible resource under state renewable portfolio standard policies and states that have implemented performance-based incentives to develop renewable thermal markets.&rdquo; Appliance standards and certifications are also a key aspect of this market. The relatively well-established rating structure for different components and combinations of solar thermal systems, under the leadership of the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation, is an example of this. On the biomass side, since 2014, BTEC has been actively engaged in developing materials in support of an efficiency test protocol for commercial boilers. This will create a single standard that provides all of the benefits described above, and would provide a key metric for programs like New York&rsquo;s or MassCEC&rsquo;s, which now require efficiency measurements but either rely on European test methods or test methods that were developed for smaller residential systems. We are seeing the positive beginnings of a trend, but it will be up to the biomass thermal industry to continue to find strategic ways to partner with other thermal interests to make renewable heating and cooling the no-brainer, household concept that it truly should be. &nbsp; Coauthors: Ben Bell-Walker Technical Affairs Manager, BTEC 202- 596-3974 Jarrod Petrohovich Technical and Policy and Government Affairs Fellow, BTEC 202- 596-3974

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The state policy environment in the Northeast has become the epicenter of support for the idea of a unified coalition to support renewable thermal energy.

A Unified Renewable Heating  and Cooling Front 

SUPERTRUCK: Daimler Trucks North America LLCâ€™s Freightliner SuperTruck, unveiled last year at the Mid-America Trucking Show, employed existing and future innovations to reduce freight and brake thermal efficiencies by 50 percent.  

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The primary mode of biomass transport—diesel power—continues to
get cleaner and more efficient.

The Future of Freight

For almost three years, the advanced biofuels industry waited for the U.S. EPA to issue the renewable fuel standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations for 2013, 2014 and 2015. Now, EPA is ahead of schedule, having proposed the 2017 RVO in May, but certain special interests are once again threatening to derail the program if the EPA does not bend to their will. It is no surprise that the oil industry is unhappy with this rule. However, much of the opposition to new 2017 proposed RVOs is coming from agriculture. Well, to my friends in the agriculture industry, I say, this is not an agriculture program, it is an energy program designed to cultivate the next generation of biofuels. I take my hat off to EPA for finally finding its groove; the rule proposed by EPA is a good step forward for advanced biofuels. For the past three years, we have all been asking for consistency from EPA, a clear and concise path forward so that banks can gain confidence. EPA listened! Unfortunately, the program continues to suffer from uncertainty as lawsuits challenge the program and its rules. The RFS was not designed to protect the special interests dedicated to any one molecule; rather, it is meant to help bring a wide range of sustainable fuels to compete in the market place. It is a portfolio approach to fuels of the future, or what many refer to as an &ldquo;all-of-the-above energy policy.&rdquo; EPA sent a clear and consistent message to investors across the world with the proposed rule, a signal of its support for advanced biofuels and greenhouse gas reductions, which come from these fuels. This year&rsquo;s rule raises the advanced pool from 3.6 billion gallons to 4 billion gallons. It also raises the biomass-based diesel pool by 100 million gallons in 2018 to 2.1 billion gallons, and it increases the cellulosic pool to over 300 million gallons. Again, this rule is good for advanced biofuels and a good start for EPA. The biofuels industry should be working with EPA to strengthen and finalize this rule. In the coming weeks, ABFA will be submitting comments to help EPA finalize this rule and get the program back on track for the good of the industry. ABFA believes there is additional room for growth in the advanced and biomass-based diesel pools, and will be working with industry members to support the highest possible targets for advanced biofuels. &nbsp; Author: Michael McAdams President, Advanced Biofuels Association michael.mcadams@hklaw.com 202-469-5140

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The recent renewable volume obligation rule proposed by the U.S. EPA is a good step forward for advanced biofuels.

US EPA Back  on Track

The transition from vision to reality involves many challenges for renewable energy projects. Without a sufficient energy source, capital and consent, the transition is impossible to make. One might assume that in comparison to conventional energy projects, projects focused on reducing environmental impacts and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have an easier time obtaining permits and meeting regulatory requirements, but often, this isn&rsquo;t the case. The same challenges in obtaining permits for conventional energy projects apply to renewable energy ventures, in addition to other unique requirements. Pennsylvania-based Montauk Energy has experienced this reality firsthand.Through its Bowerman Power subsidiary, the company developed a 23-MW renewable energy project located within the South Coast Air Basin, a nonattainment basin. This means any incremental increase in air quality must meet strict requirements when undergoing the permitting process with the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The $60 million landfill gas-to-renewable-energy (LFGTE) facility, financed by Cat Financial Services Corp., is located on 2.6 acres of the 725-acre Frank R. Bowerman Landfill near Irvine, California. This project joins other large LFGTE projects in the area (Olinda in Brea and Prima Deshecha in San Juan Capistrano) with the aim of reducing GHG emissions. The Bowerman facility is estimated to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 53,000 tons annually. The plant will generate roughly 160,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity, sufficient to serve the equivalent of 26,000 energy-efficient homes in Southern California, and sold to Anaheim Public Utilities under a 20-year power purchase agreement. Collectively, the three LFGTE operations produce approximately 380,000 MWh of electricity annually, enough to power some 56,000 Southern California homes. In order to begin contributing to the improvement of air quality through its reduction of GHG emissions, the Bowerman project had to meet air quality requirements itself. &ldquo;We believe this project is fundamental in demonstrating our ability to achieve emissions that have been set by the board,&rdquo; says Dylan Wright, director of Orange County Waste and Recycling, the landfill owner and operator. Wright adds that one of the challenges associated with the project was due to a new rule passed (Rule 1110.2), which precludes the use of internal combustion engines that don&rsquo;t meet a certain standard. &ldquo;This is a very strict standard, and a number of facilities are having to shut down as a result of that&mdash;even though they&rsquo;d be offering a beneficial use&mdash;just because it&rsquo;s cost prohibitive,&rdquo; Wright says. &ldquo;This facility is really an engineering feat, because it meets those standards.&rdquo; This professed engineering feat combines gas feedstock cleanup, large-scale Cat reciprocating engine generators and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology. The project was championed by Todd Spitzer, Orange County board chairman and Third District supervisor, and won approval from the full Orange County Board of Supervisors in October 2014, after a previous agreement for the facility was revised and updated. Ground was broken in January 2015, and the plant became operational just over a year later, in March 2016. This achievement was no small feat. &ldquo;There were a series of externalities, which were beyond anyone&rsquo;s control,&rdquo; says Chris Davis, vice president of business development with Montauk Energy. &ldquo;There were issues in obtaining an air permit, and it wasn&rsquo;t particular to our project, it was the entire landfill and methane industry that was struggling to get air permits in Southern California.&rdquo; The issue was related to a court challenge on an unrelated project, which brought into question whether projects such as Bowerman can be permitted as an essential public service to qualify them as exempt from providing their own emission offsets. Landfill gas projects operate under a special criterion in the Air Quality Management District New Source Review requirements, exempting them from purchasing NOx offsets, but AQMD still provides the offsets to comply with federal and state laws. Davis says that Bowerman&rsquo;s draft air permit was completed in 2009, but the lawsuit put the project on hold for nearly two years. &ldquo;Once the court challenge had been addressed, development of the project was restarted, but new air modeling was required given the delays in commencing construction,&rdquo; he says. AQMD&rsquo;s permitting requirements and other local, state and federal air quality rules played a big role in selecting equipment deployed at the plant. For example, the gas cleanup system that includes Sulphur-removal, an off-the-shelf design utilized by Montauk on other projects, and a siloxane removal system by Willexa. Davis says the heart of the gas cleanup configuration is the Willexa system. According to Davis, silica or silicone, which are found in many things that go into a landfill such as cosmetics, deodorant, toothpaste, silica gel, etc., end up in the landfill gas as a broad category of compounds known as siloxanes. When put under high heat, siloxanes can quickly ruin a catalyst system, so all of it is scrubbed out front. Besides gas cleanup, two other important components of the project are the power generators themselves and the SCR technology that helps the engines meet project requirements. According to Davis, the local air management district strongly favored combustion turbines in lieu of reciprocating engine technology, and during and during 2010-&rsquo;14, few, if any, reciprocating engine projects were approved for LFGTE projects. But, the cost of operations for combustion turbines on landfill methane is greater than reciprocating engines, Davis says, and the fuel efficiency of combustion turbines was unattractive relative to reciprocating engines. Therefore, Caterpillar&rsquo;s CG260 (reciprocating) engine generators were evaluated for their ability to meet the needs of the project and satisfy the local AQMD&rsquo;s emissions requirements. It was found that with the addition of the SCR system for NOx and oxidation catalysts for CO, the project would be acceptable to the AQMD. And, given the drought conditions in California, Davis adds, it was a key objective to pursue a technology that had no water needs for process or cooling, an added benefit of the CG260 configuration. The sale of power produced by the seven Cat generators helps Anaheim Public Utilities meet its renewable portfolio standard goals. &ldquo;We have a need for renewable energy to serve our customers,&rdquo; says Manny Robledo, integrated resource manager with APU. &ldquo;There is a state mandate to increase the amount of renewable energy by 50 percent by the year 2030, so this project fits into that goal.&rdquo; According to Robledo, the Bowerman project represents 6 percent of the utility&rsquo;s renewable energy needs. The average annual royalty payment to Orange County is projected at $1.62 million, representing an estimated $31 million over the 20-year life of the agreement with Anaheim. In addition, Bowerman Power is providing $1 million in LFG collection system operation and maintenance services to the county. &ldquo;Creating clean energy power from landfill gas is a smart investment that helps the environment and advances science and engineering,&rdquo; Spitzer says. &ldquo;Advancing important technology that helps the environment and potentially generates revenue is the best way for Orange County to do business as a leader in clean energy projects.&rdquo; Author: Katie Fletcher Associate Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4920 kfletcher@bbiinternational.com

Project Layout: Pictured on the bottom left is gas refrigeration and water removal at the Bowerman Power landfill gas-to-energy plant. Toward the image center is the siloxane removal system, with four vessels on the right for bulk removal of siloxane

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Orange County's third landfil gas-to-energy facility began commercial operations this year, but not without meeting the region's strict air quality standards.

Permission to Power

&ldquo;Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me,&rdquo; Richard Farina, 1996 novel; The Doors, 1971 As pellet producers and heating equipment firms limp into the summer, there are numerous plans underway to improve the marketing of&nbsp; &ldquo;modern wood heat,&rdquo; a phrase the industry has found to be more consumer-friendly than &ldquo;biomass thermal.&rdquo; Optimism abounds. This spring&rsquo;s well-attended Northeast Biomass Heating Conference &amp; Expo in Vermont had an unofficial theme: &ldquo;We all know that oil prices will go back up; we&rsquo;ll be back selling.&rdquo; The Northern Forest Center, an excellent nonprofit dedicated to supporting the economies and citizens of Northern New England and upstate New York, recently drafted a &ldquo;Modern Wood Heat Communications Plan,&rdquo; for which it interviewed numerous pellet boiler owners and industry stakeholders across the region. The plan, noting that consumers understand that oil prices are volatile, suggests that pellet heating equipment be sold based on homeowner values, not price considerations. Buying local and environmental considerations top the values list.&nbsp; The Northern Forest Center has put together a work group to move the plan forward. Vermont Solar&rsquo;s marketing slogan, &ldquo;Building Clean Energy and Local Jobs,&rdquo; will serve as a model. Marketing programs should also find assistance in the $130,000 USDA Wood Energy Assistance Team grant just received by the Maine Forest Service. Vermont, New York state, and New Hampshire have previously received similar funding. To assist with the implementation of these grants, the U.S. Forest Service&rsquo;s regional office in New Hampshire just added a forest products utilization specialist position and filled the slot with the Maine Forest Service employee who wrote the Maine grant. With its pellet boiler incentive (30 percent, up to $5,000) sparsely used this winter, Efficiency Maine&rsquo;s trustees recently had the opportunity to reduce funding for the program. The board instead agreed that the program remains valid and should continue as planned. Perhaps more important than any of these marketing programs is the realization (finally!) by Maine&rsquo;s legislature that our state&rsquo;s entire forestry sector is facing serious challenge, with thousands of jobs at stake. Three pulp and paper plants have closed recently, along with two biomass electric plants. The future of the remaining four biomass electric plants is in doubt, as result of changes in Massachusetts and Connecticut policies on renewable electricity credits. Using the phrase &ldquo;an economic hurricane,&rdquo; Maine Sen. Angus King organized a large meeting of forestry firms and federal agencies, with the intention of seeing how federal policies and programs might assist the industry. Specifically important to our four pellet producers was a state legislative proposal, passed in the final days of the session, whereby the state will pay up to $13 million for two-year contracts of electricity generated from renewable fuels, presumably biomass. This measure is vital to maintaining the wood harvesting infrastructure that provides fiber not only to Maine&rsquo;s biomass electricity generators, but also to our four pellet manufacturers, numerous papermakers, lumber mills, specialty wood products firms, and many other forest products enterprises. Forestry is Maine&rsquo;s largest economic engine, along with tourism, and legislators are recognizing that their support is sometimes needed.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Potentially, of even greater importance is a measure passed as part of the biomass electric package, creating a Maine Biomass Industry Study Commission. This commission, charged with studying the economic, environmental, and energy benefits of the biomass industry, is not limited to biomass electric. One of the 15 members just appointed by the speaker of the Maine House is Bob Linkletter, owner and operator of Maine Woods Pellet Co., and also a director of the Maine Pellet Fuels Association. Linkletter intends to direct some of the commission&rsquo;s attention to thermal biomass.&nbsp; So, what we have now is a strong planning infrastructure. As I write this piece, I was interrupted by a phone call from a Vermont consumer asking where he could go to purchase Maine pellets. What we really need is thousands more such calls. Author: Bill Bell Executive Director, Maine Pellet Fuels Association feedalliance@gwi.net 207-752-1392

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As pellet producers and heating equipment firms limp into the summer, there are numerous plans underway to improve the marketing of  â€œmodern wood heat,â€� a phrase the industry has found to be more consumer-friendly than â€œbiomass thermal.â€� 

Making Marketing Moves 

Just upstream from the University of Iowa&rsquo;s power plant is a wood-fired kiln that is utilized each semester by art students in the university&rsquo;s ceramics program. This kiln, fired intermittently, is one the smallest of 456 individual emissions sources on campus. Still, the kiln carries an insignificant emission unit number and is identified in the university&rsquo;s operating permit. In stark contrast, the power plant contains the largest of the 456 sources on campus. It generates more than 90 percent of the university&rsquo;s annual emissions, and is a key element of the university&rsquo;s ambitious sustainability and clean energy goals. &ldquo;In 2010, our then-President Sally Mason and Karl Brooks, the U.S. EPA Region 7 administrator, developed and agreed to seven different sustainability targets for the university, the second of which was to obtain 40 percent of our energy from renewable sources by 2020,&rdquo; says Ingrid Anderson, J.D., an environmental compliance specialist at the university. The responsibility of meeting that goal in a cost-effective manner fell on the shoulders of the university&rsquo;s facilities management team. &ldquo;Our facilities folks looked at all of the options, and recognized that biomass was the most viable option because it didn&rsquo;t require significant up-front capital requirements,&rdquo; Anderson says. &ldquo;We could use our existing assets and infrastructure and switch to a renewable fuel source, that being biomass.&rdquo; The university began searching for local, reliable sources of biomass waste streams, eventually focusing on oat hulls from a grain processing facility in nearby Cedar Rapids. At the same time, work began on the development of purpose-grown energy grass infrastructure in the local area. In order to cofire a growing percentage of biomass with coal at the power station, the university began committing time and resources to feedstock procurement, energy crop establishment and farmer recruitment. While the energy and innovation these critical efforts require are vital if the university is to achieve its goals, a less-celebrated, but no-less important permitting approach may ultimately be regarded as the project&rsquo;s most important innovation. Plantwide Applicability Limit In March, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued the University of Iowa the state&rsquo;s first Plant-wide Applicability Limit (PAL) permit. More accurately, the Iowa DNR issued the university seven PALs, one for each criteria pollutant. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how a PAL is organized, one for each criteria pollutant,&rdquo; says Sarah Piziali, supervisor of air quality construction permit program at the Iowa DNR. &ldquo;So there is a PAL for each of three types of particulate matter (PM). There&rsquo;s PM, PM10 and PM2.5 and then there are PALs for carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).&rdquo; A PAL is an alternative permitting approach that provides entities with multiple emissions sources an increased flexibility across their emissions landscape when it comes to asset utilization, modification and fuel sources. PALs were made possible by some reforms to New Source Review provisions in the Clean Air Act in 2002. &ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t a lot of flexibility built into those regulations, which is part of why, in 2002, they came out with these alternate regulatory approaches,&rdquo; Anderson says. &ldquo;Institutions needed more flexibility to try new things.&rdquo; Simply stated, a PAL moves an institution away from a source-by-source approach to emissions compliance, and toward a facility-wide approach, giving institutions flexibility that they would not otherwise have. Previously, if the university was going to add or modify emissions generating equipment, it would be required to complete prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) analysis. In other words, the university would have to determine if the new or changed emissions source would deteriorate the local air quality. This process is labor-intensive, can tax an institution&rsquo;s busy facilities staff, and can also create some uncertainty around the emissions control equipment that will ultimately be required for the project. &ldquo;The opportunity that we have with this PAL permit is that we take a facility-wide cap on emissions, and then because of that, the campus is considered to be in compliance with all of those PSD requirements,&rdquo; Anderson says.&nbsp; &ldquo;So now, we can do a project, we can modify or add equipment, and we don&rsquo;t have the ambiguity of, &lsquo;does PSD apply&rsquo; and what controls we might need to install to comply with those requirements.&rdquo; With a PAL permit, the university is free to manage all of its emissions sources as it sees fit, as long as it remains under the cap for each criteria pollutant. For example, the university&rsquo;s facility-wide cap on carbon monoxide is 444.74 tons per year. If all of the sources together do not exceed this cap, the university is in compliance with that PAL. This flexibility is a perfect fit for the ongoing work at the power plant to increase the amount of biomass fuel that it uses, work that will likely result in biomass inclusion rates changing each year. Without a PAL, the power station would likely find itself in a nearly perpetual permit review process, bogging an effort the university is hoping to accelerate. &ldquo;In the past, if the university wanted to include a new biomass fuel in its boilers, without the PALs, they would have to do a PSD analysis showing that this new fuel will not increase their emissions above the PSD significance levels for each criteria pollutant that they would emit,&rdquo; Piziali explains. &ldquo;And traditionally, carbon monoxide would be the pollutant that they were most concerned about. So they would have to show that the addition of this new fuel would not trigger a PSD requirement. Now that they have the PAL, they are allowed to increase their emissions from the boilers to whatever they need, as long as the overall emissions for that pollutant at the university do not exceed the cap set out in the PAL.&rdquo; The university is still required to meet&nbsp; emissions limits set forth in the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, Piziali adds, as well as the New Source Performance Standards and hazardous air pollutant standards. This operational freedom does call for increased monitoring and tracking of monthly emissions, however. &ldquo;This freedom to construct new or modify their existing equipment comes with the added responsibility and burden of having to track their emissions to a great detail,&rdquo; Piziali says. &ldquo;They weren&rsquo;t having to do that before. They are getting some flexibility to shift their emissions allowances of the pieces of equipment that they&rsquo;d like to modify or operate differently over the whole facility, but in exchange, they are to track what they are doing very closely.&rdquo; In order to make monthly emissions tracking more feasible, the university uses emissions factors and worst-case scenarios on a sizeable number of the emissions sources at the university. &ldquo;Consider the wood-fired kiln at the art school,&rdquo; Anderson says. &ldquo;We had to go with a worst-case scenario for that source, because putting in some sort of monitoring apparatus in the kiln just wasn&rsquo;t feasible. We worked hard, in collaboration with staff from the Iowa DNR, with one-off situations like that to make sure that we were protective of our environmental quality, while also arriving at a workable way to account for those emissions.&rdquo; Because the vast majority of the university&rsquo;s emissions emanate from the power plant, those emissions will be monitored very closely. Ramping Up To meet the ambitious goals the university established for itself&mdash;40 percent renewable energy by 2020&mdash;the inclusion of biomass will have to more than double from current inclusion rates. &ldquo;In 2015, we were at 15 percent renewable, and I&rsquo;d say all of that was from biomass cofiring,&rdquo; Anderson says. In 2016, she expects to see inclusion rates closer to 20 percent. &ldquo;I always tell people that this isn&rsquo;t a linear progression,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;A lot of the groundwork we&rsquo;re laying now should allow us to ramp up significantly in the last few years before 2020. We&rsquo;re doing some really innovative stuff with biomass, and this permit was another innovative solution to remove some hurdles and to pave the way to increased biomass usage on campus. Innovation breeds innovation, that&rsquo;s how I like to look at it.&rdquo; Whether the university is ultimately able to grow its biomass inclusion rate to 40 percent in less than four years remains to be seen. However, with the issuance of the PAL, its air permit will not be the bottleneck in its efforts. The permit, valid until 2026, provides the university the flexibility to ramp up its biomass inclusion well beyond the goals set forth in 2010. &ldquo;Our hope is to keep increasing the percentage of biomass as much as possible,&rdquo; Anderson says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not interested in hitting 40 percent and then staying there. We want to keep working toward as much biomass as possible.&rdquo; Author: Tim Portz Executive Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4969 tportz@bbiinternational.com

The power plant at the University of Iowa is the largest source of criteria pollutants on campus. It is also the key element in its sustainability initiatives. The Iowa DNR awarded the university with a Plant-wide Applicability Limit, which provides 

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The University of Iowa was issued the state's first Plant-wide Applicability Limit, granting its biomass program much-needed operational flexibility. 

Innovation Breeds Innovation

There&rsquo;s a lot about the Clean Power Plan that remains unsettled, including whether it will survive legal challenges. Also at the top of the list is how the plan will eventually treat biomass. For us, there is a very simple solution: If fuel is derived from residues, whether it&rsquo;s forest, agricultural or urban wood waste, it is renewable. Power generated using these fuels should fully qualify as a carbon reduction strategy. The U.S. EPA&rsquo;s Scientific Advisory Board has admirably set out to try to definitively calculate emissions from all biogenic sources, including many different scenarios like land use change, energy crops, and other situations that might produce biogenic fuel. The problem with this approach is that it&rsquo;s nearly impossible to account for these widely varying conditions in a simple, clear equation that, for example, could help guide a state policy director who is trying to determine the role for biomass in his or her state&rsquo;s carbon reduction plan. The good news is that a complicated equation is really not necessary to create a role for existing biomass within the Clean Power Plan. In the absence of a comprehensive biogenic carbon calculation tool, we know plenty about the carbon benefits of using residues for biomass power. Virtually all scientists who have studied this issue agree that utilizing low-value materials and byproducts as fuel for biomass power is beneficial to the environment and vastly preferable to the use of fossil fuels.&nbsp; We continue to urge the EPA to make this distinction as soon as possible to encourage states to include biomass power in their state implementation plans. The EPA has emphasized flexibility for states in meeting their carbon reduction targets, but failing to clearly define biomass could have the unintended effect of discouraging states from building new and existing biomass into their plans. A positive signal from the EPA would ensure that states use every tool at their disposal for reducing greenhouse gases, maintaining a steady economy and keeping a stable power supply coursing through the electric grid.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s important for biomass to have clarity under the Clean Power Plan. Across the country, facilities are challenged to compete with low natural gas prices, and regulatory certainty could influence states to support facilities now so that they can be relied on in the future. Carbon reduction is just one among the many benefits of using residues for biomass power. Biomass gives value to materials that are often worthless or even detrimental. Biomass facilities purchase or remove hazardous fuel, slash piles, thinnings and overgrowth from federal lands and forests, reducing the risk for catastrophic wildfires. Because of biomass, foresters, landowners and loggers are able to get more value from their harvests, promoting land maintenance and preservation rather than selling it for development. Many farmers sell their orchard prunings and other agricultural waste to biomass facilities rather than open burning, the traditional way to dispose of these materials. According to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, using biomass in a boiler with up-to-date environmental control technologies is a way to remove up to 99 percent of the particulate matter released by burning wood. The EPA could ensure that states are able to continue reaping these benefits now and well into the future by designating biomass from residues as an accepted renewable fuel under the Clean Power Plan. The SAB process for determining how to treat other types of biogenic fuels could still continue while excluding what we already agree on: Biomass from residues is carbon beneficial. It would be a shame&mdash;for the biomass industry and its supply chain, the power grid, the EPA, states and the U.S. Forest Service&mdash;to exclude biomass by default. &nbsp; Author: Bob Cleaves President, Biomass Power Association bob@usabiomass.org www.usabiomass.org

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There's a lot about the Clean Power Plan that remains unsettled, including whether it will survive legal challenges. 

A Simple Regulatory Solution  for Biogenic Emissions

Fecon adds regional manager Fecon Inc. has added Devin Chambers as regional manager of its Mid-South region, covering Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. Chambers has more than a decade of territory management experience. He is also experienced in the development and implementation of sales and marketing strategies, dealer recruitment and development, sales and service training, and direct sales. Harvest Power adds to leadership team Harvest Power Inc. has added Gary Aguinaga as chief operating officer of its energy business. Aguinaga has 25 years of experience in waste-to-energy, including the development, construction, and operation of multiple large-scale waste-to-energy facilities throughout North America and Europe. He most recently served as vice president of international operations and business development at Wheelabrator Technologies. Rural Energy earns certification U.K.-based Rural Energy has completed the combined-heat-and-power (CHP) design and installation training course from Bosch Commercial and Industrial. The course was comprised of two days of training and means the biomass specialist is now a certified technology partner of Bosch, a manufacturer of heating and cooling products.&nbsp; Enviva Forest Conservation Fund announces awards The Enviva Forest Conservation Fund has announced the recipients of its 2016 grants. The fund, established by Enviva Holdings LP and administered by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, is awarding $500,000 in 2016 to preservation and conservation programs that span more than 2,000 acres of environmentally sensitive bottomland and wetland forests in North Carolina and Virginia. The four awards were made to the Nature Conservancy North Carolina Chapter, the Triangle Land Conservancy, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Nature Conservancy Virginia Chapter. EPA announces Nutrient Recycling Challenge winners The U.S. EPA has announced the winners of Phase I of the Nutrient Recycling Challenge, a competition to develop affordable technologies to recycle nutrients from livestock manure. Two of the four winning projects focus on anaerobic digestion. Bo Hu, Hongjian Lin, and Xin Zhang of the University of Minnesota were recognized for a process to create dry biosolids fertilizer by using a novel anaerobic digestion and solid-liquid separations system. Hiroko Yoshida of Centrisys Corp. was recognized for a project that uses carbon dioxide stripping and other processes to create a range of fertilizers from anaerobically digested manure. The American Biogas Council is among the nearly 20 partners in the challenge.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Pacific Ag opens new field office Pacific Ag has opened a field office near Fargo, North Dakota, to serve the increasing demand for wheat straw residue among the dairy, beef, mushroom and erosion control industries. The company has hired Tom and Stephanie Borgen, local farmers and wheat straw providers, as regional managers to develop partnerships with growers and drive sales of wheat straw to target markets. UNTHA adds team member UNTHA has added Andreas Senkbeil to its team. Senkbeil has worked in the waste management sector for the past four years and will be responsible for the company&rsquo;s growth in the Asian Pacific market, including Thailand, Singapore, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, China and Australia. &nbsp; WPAC appoints president Michele Rebiere resigned as president of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada in May, citing a need to focus on her role as chief financial officer of Viridis Energy as the company pursues the sale of its business. She served on the WPAC&rsquo;s board for five years, and spent one year as president. WPAC has appointed former Vice President Rene Landry as president. He will assume the role until the next general meeting of the membership is held in September. Landry is director of pellet operations for Nova Scotia-based Shaw Resources, which operates two plants in Atlantic Canada. SBP approves PwC as certification body for Canada, US The Sustainable Biomass Partnership has announced PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada LLP has become the third SBP-approved certification body. PwC has provided evidence that it meets the SBP requirements regarding its existing accreditations and has demonstrated sufficient resource and competence to manage the SBP certification scheme under the SBP Framework, which enables producers of woody biomass to demonstrate that they source their raw material responsibly and that the material complies with regulations, including sustainability requirements applicable to power generators burning woody biomass to produce energy. PwC has been approved for certification of biomass producers in the U.S. and Canada. These producers typically include pellet or wood chip mills, and the biomass supply chain. PFI qualifies new facilities under standards program The Pellet Fuels Institute has announced the qualification of pellet fuel manufacturer NWP Jasper LLC of Jasper, Tennessee, into the PFI Standards Program. New England Wood Pellet, a company with several previously qualified facilities, also added to the program a newly qualified facility, Allegheny Pellet in Youngsville, Pennsylvania. The PFI Standards Program is a third-party accreditation program providing specifications for residential and commercial-grade pellet fuel, now representing 13 pellet manufacturing companies, among them 22 facilities.&nbsp;&nbsp; AFS, Greenlane Biogas sign 2-year contract manufacturing agreement British Columbia-based AdvancedFlow Systems Inc., a subsidiary of AdvanTec Global Innovations Inc., recently added Greenlane Biogas Ltd. to its existing portfolio of contract manufacturing clients by signing a two-year contract manufacturing agreement. AFS, along with its sister companies Surround Technologies and Advanced Bending Technologies, is a vertically integrated industrial group that specializes in providing contract manufacturing solutions for a diverse group of companies with an equally diverse range of products. WesTech, Cleanergy announce partnership WesTech has partnered with Cleanergy to bring the Cleanergy GasBox biogas generator to the U.S. The Cleanergy GasBox generates electricity and heat from biogas using a Stirling engine. The GasBox requires minimal-to-no gas cleaning which allows for small and mid-size wastewater treatment plants to achieve the power-generating benefits of biogas utilization. The system can run on biogas with a methane concentration as low as 18 percent, which alleviates the need at larger plants to burn off this biogas with a natural gas supplement.

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Carlyne Parillon, Rural Energy senior design engineer (left); Paul Clark, Rural Energy managing director; Jonathan Mann, Rural Energy estimating and bid manager; Carl Arntzen, Worcester Bosch managing director; Kevin Agutter, Rural Energy business de

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Business Briefs

I never imagined that my stint as an art student at the University of Iowa would collide in any meaningful way with my career in biomass, but recently, it has. Our staff has been closely following the ongoing story of the university&rsquo;s efforts to dramatically increase inclusion of biomass fuel at its power plant for a couple of years. Currently, the university is cofiring oat hulls with coal, but together with Iowa State University, it has been working to establish energy crop production in the area. The bulk of our coverage has centered on those efforts, but for this month&rsquo;s issue of Biomass Magazine, dedicated to emissions, permitting and regulatory compliance, I took a close look at the innovative permitting approach that the University of Iowa is using to give it the flexibility required to efficiently ramp up its biomass program. The university has been awarded the state of Iowa&rsquo;s very first Plant-wide Applicability Limit permit (PAL), made possible by amendments to the New Source Review protocols in 2002. During interviews for my page-14 story, &ldquo;Innovation Breeds Innovation,&rdquo; I learned that the university&rsquo;s PAL allows the institution to manage the emissions from all of its sources against one limit for each of the seven regulated criteria pollutants. There are over 450 sources on campus, and for some context, I asked about sources on the other end of the spectrum from the power plant. It was at this point that my past and present collided. One of the smallest emissions sources at the University of Iowa is a student-built, wood-fired kiln operated just once or twice a semester, a kiln that, over 20 years ago, I helped fire. And there you have it. In her page-26 department &ldquo;Permission to Power,&rdquo; Associate Editor Katie Fletcher outlines how projects that have been built to drive down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as carbon dioxide and methane, must still comply with existing air quality regulations, and finds that the two sometimes work at cross purposes. Fletcher&rsquo;s story focuses almost exclusively on the Bowerman Power landfill gas-to-energy facility, highlighting the challenges states have in maintaining current regulations while working toward emerging GHG reduction and renewable energy goals. Senior Editor Ron Kotrba&rsquo;s page-30 feature, &ldquo;The Future of Freight,&rdquo; is a fitting bookend for the issue. In it, he establishes the vital global role that diesel fuel plays, and the efforts underway to continue to drive down the emissions associated with its use. Like the other stories in this issue, Kotrba&rsquo;s showcases how the biomass industry is working to deliver air quality and environmental benefits while also complying with existing regulations.
&nbsp;
Author: Tim Portz Vice President of Content&nbsp; &amp; Executive Editor tportz@bbiinternational.com

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The biomass industry is working to deliver air quality and environmental benefits while also complying with existing regulations

July 2016

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

2022: A Cliff for Clean Fuels and the RFS?

A Unified Renewable Heating and Cooling Front

US EPA Back on Track

Making Marketing Moves

A Simple Regulatory Solution for Biogenic Emissions

Permitting Progress

Featured

The Future of Freight

Innovation Breeds Innovation

Contributions

A Brilliant Backup Plan

Departments

Permission to Power

July 2016.css-7jxktu{position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;height:3px;border-radius:3px;background-color:var(--chakra-colors-brandBlack);}

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

2022: A Cliff for Clean Fuels and the RFS?

A Unified Renewable Heating and Cooling Front

US EPA Back on Track

Making Marketing Moves

A Simple Regulatory Solution for Biogenic Emissions

Permitting Progress

Featured

The Future of Freight

Innovation Breeds Innovation

Contributions

A Brilliant Backup Plan

Departments

Permission to Power

July 2016