The amount of energy consumed by electrical motors in the U.S. is staggering. The U.S. DOE reports that, in 2006, the total annual energy consumption from motor-driven equipment in the U.S. industrial, commercial, residential and transportation sectors combined was approximately 1,431 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), or more than 38 percent of the total U.S. electrical energy use. In 2006, motor-driven systems in the industrial sector consumed roughly 632 billion kWh/year, or 44 percent of all motor-driven system energy use. This industrial sector motor use equates to about 17 percent of the total U.S. electrical energy use. Within the industrial sector, more than 62 percent of the total electrical energy use is for motor-driven equipment.
More recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show nearly half of the electricity consumed in the manufacturing sector is used to power motors for fans, pumps, conveyors, compressors, and, of course, wood pellet presses, along with all the ancillary equipment that help prepare feedstock, feed the presses and package the final product for delivery.
At Indeck Ladysmith&rsquo;s 90,000-ton wood pellet mill in Wisconsin, maintenance manager Kristoffer Zimmerman says the plant is stacked with motors of all sizes and styles performing a variety of functions throughout the mill. All the motors used at Indeck Ladysmith are Marathon Electric Manufacturing Corp.&rsquo;s XRI brand, Zimmerman says, and the most powerful is 600 horsepower to run the microwood chipper. &ldquo;The chipper draws 200 amps when nothing&rsquo;s going through it,&rdquo; Zimmerman says.
The microchipper makes smaller than typically sized wood chips, which are then fed into a hopper before moving to one of two hammer mills. Zimmerman says the smaller-sized chips are desirable because they put less load on the hammer mills. &ldquo;Our microchipper normally needs 1,200 horsepower, but we have a unique torque converter that allows it to slip under heavy load,&rdquo; he says.
The mill has two Bliss Industries Eliminator 4460 hammer mills, a wet and a dry, each powered by a 500-horsepower motor.
Three Andritz LM26-2 wood pellet presses&mdash;each equipped with a 480-volt, 3-phase, 400-horsepower motor drawing 420 amps a piece&mdash;are the extrusion workhorses of the Indeck Ladysmith mill. Zimmerman says the plant can run all three pellet presses together or individually, and for R&amp;D purposes, Indeck Ladysmith has the ability to put different-sized dies in each of the machines with different compression ratios.
The plant also employs a few smaller, variable frequency drive motors sized at 25 horsepower or less. &ldquo;The pellet presses are fed by an auger and a surge bin,&rdquo; Zimmerman says. &ldquo;We have a variable frequency drive motor to feed the presses, so we can change the feed rate.&rdquo; A sawdust burner that heats the dryer also uses a variable frequency drive motor. The motor that blows the sawdust into the burner adjusts how much material to feed in based on the temperature of the product coming out. &ldquo;After the wood comes out of the dryer, we look at that temperature,&rdquo; Zimmerman says. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a 15-minute response time to change the feed rate and therefore the temperature of the fire.&rdquo;
All the motors in the facility are alternating current (AC), save one. The facility uses a small direct current (DC) motor in its stretch wrapping machine that palletizes 40-pound bags of wood pellets onto 1-ton pallets. Patrick Standley, business manager of paper and forest products at Baldor Electric Co., a member of the ABB group, says DC motors are common in the paper industry, often in legacy machinery. &ldquo;DC requires more maintenance,&rdquo; Standley says. &ldquo;Most people have moved toward AC motors.&rdquo; Regulations The Marathon XRI motors, such as those utilized at Indeck Ladysmith, are rated NEMA-premium. NEMA is the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, and its standards are adopted by the federal government to establish efficiency regulations.
For more than three decades the efficiency of new motors has been regulated by federal law. The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 required U.S. DOE to establish the most stringent standards that are both technologically feasible and economically justifiable, according to EIA, and to periodically update these standards as technology and economics evolve. Legislation has increased the federal minimum motor efficiencies requirements over the past two decades, covering motors both manufactured and imported for sale in the U.S. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 set minimum efficiency levels for all motors up to 200 horsepower purchased after October 1997. The U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, famous in the biofuels world as the legislation in which the second and current version of the renewable fuel standard (RFS2) was passed, updated the EPAct standards starting December 2010 to what&rsquo;s called NEMA-premium, including 201 to 500 horsepower motors. EISA assigns minimum, nominal, full-load efficiency ratings according to motor subtype and size.
Beginning June 1, an updated standard established by DOE in 2014 is broadening the minimum efficiency of a variety of new motors sized at 1 horsepower and up. &ldquo;When regulations first moved to NEMA-premium, there were exceptions that didn&rsquo;t necessarily make sense,&rdquo; says Dale Basso, NEMA vice chairman and WEG Electric Corp.&rsquo;s low-voltage motors product manager. &ldquo;There are things in the NEMA-premium requirements today that were not in the regulations in 2010&mdash;things like footless motors. It didn&rsquo;t make sense really why those were exempt. So we were building two designs, one for footless and another for footed. But when the Round 2 changes came into effect this June, they moved that and other stuff into the regulations.&rdquo;
Round 2 regulations, also called the Integral Horsepower Rule, include motors sized as low as 1 horsepower and incorporate &ldquo;almost everything except things like special shafts,&rdquo; Basso says.
The new rule doesn&rsquo;t mean motors that do not meet NEMA-premium standards cannot be used or sold, but rather manufacturers cannot produce new motors for sale in the U.S. after June 1 that do not meet the new efficiency standards. &ldquo;Customers can still sell product if they have it on the shelves,&rdquo; says Jason Carbone, a territory account manager for WEG. &ldquo;They just can&rsquo;t build noncompliant product for sale in the U.S. anymore.&rdquo;
Below the NEMA-premium rating is what&rsquo;s referred to as high-efficiency. A NEMA-premium rating is two efficiency bands above a high-efficiency rating, according to Basso. Another way to express this is to say that two efficiency bands higher than high-efficiency makes 20 percent fewer losses. The difference between each efficiency band, which is a fixed, nameplate assignment, is 10 percent loss. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t do a 96 percent or 96.1 percent efficient motor,&rdquo; Basso says. &ldquo;But 96.2 is an efficiency band, and 95.8 is the next one down.&rdquo;
DOE&rsquo;s analyses estimate lifetime savings for electric motors purchased over the 30-year period that begins in the year of compliance with new and amended standards to be 7.0 quadrillion Btu. The annualized energy savings&mdash;0.23 quadrillion Btu&mdash;is equivalent to 1 percent of total U.S. industrial primary electricity consumption in 2013. Inner Workings Induction motors are rather basic creations that turn electrical energy into mechanical movement. Induction motors consist of a stator, which is the stationary component and made of electromagnetic iron or steel layers magnetized with copper winding and 2, 4, 6 or 8 paired poles, says Joe Hanna, marketing development manager for Toshiba International Corp. The stator features a bored center so the rotor&mdash;the rotating portion of the motor&mdash;can fit inside. The stack length of the motor is determined by how many layers of laminated, stamped steel are in the construction of the stator and rotor, Standley says. The rotor too is outfitted with electromagnets with paired poles facing toward the stator poles. As the alternating current electricity passes through the copper winding, the stator poles alternate and the rotor poles move to catch up. This happens several times a second and creates mechanical rotation energy to power almost anything needed.
Hanna says Toshiba designs its medium-voltage motors differently than the standard design. &ldquo;We have a form-wound design,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just standard wire. We use multiple wires and we put them all together and wrap with a certain insulation, like a cable. The cost of our form-wound designed motors is higher than the standard induction line.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Standley says the way manufacturers such as Baldor make motors more efficient revolves around material quality, contents and stack length. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about the ability to cool,&rdquo; he says. When a motor is rated at 96.2 percent efficient, it means 96.2 percent of the electricity consumed is converted to mechanical energy, while the other 3.8 percent is lost as excess heat or friction. Therefore, the ability of a motor to keep cool means less loss to heat and greater efficiency.
When motors wear out, Standley says many industrial facilities have what&rsquo;s called throw-away horsepower, meaning motors less than a designated horsepower are replaced while those that are higher are rewound, or otherwise repaired. &ldquo;In rewinding a motor, you can lose efficiency in the process,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And if a motor is rewound several times, it&rsquo;s not going to be close to the original efficiency.&rdquo; While many of these larger motors in the field have a 20-plus year lifespan, certain wear items such as bearings and seals have shorter lifespans. &ldquo;If you choose to repair, you need to replace the bearings and seals,&rdquo; Standley says. &ldquo;And they need to be greased in day-to-day operations. Lube,&rdquo; or the lack of, &ldquo;is the biggest failure point,&rdquo; he says. Application, Payback Hanna says when choosing a motor for a particular application, it&rsquo;s important to look at the situation from all different angles. &ldquo;One is the power line and what&rsquo;s available for the motor to start,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The second is amps draw. We say, based on the application, we expect the motor to draw 200 amps. Then we look at voltage, load type, starting conditions, load inertia and how you are going to start the motor in order to select the right motor and design for that application. But it always depends on the voltage and the power line coming in.&rdquo;
Load capability is a relationship of speed and torque. &ldquo;Horsepower equals torque times speed divided by a constant,&rdquo; Standley says.
The power factor, a function of load, is important too, Basso says. Power factor is the ratio of the actual electrical power dissipated by an AC circuit to the product of the root mean square values of current and voltage. The difference between the two essentially represents wasted power. &ldquo;When it goes down, the load goes down,&rdquo; Basso says. &ldquo;If you have a bad power factor, it looks like a bigger number than it is, so you size the equipment to match the kilovolt amps supplied to them. So you&rsquo;re not just looking at kilowatts.&rdquo; He says a lousy power factor can adversely affect power bills. A good power factor, or the proper utilization of the electricity supplied through proper planning and equipment sizing, will benefit the plant and the utility. &ldquo;You have a choice when buying a motor,&rdquo; Basso says. &ldquo;If you know you&rsquo;ll only be running at 75 percent load, don&rsquo;t worry about oversizing it.&rdquo; What&rsquo;s more important is the power factor, he says. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re trying to size it close to the horsepower, then you need to look at load and size,&rdquo; Basso explains. &ldquo;Everyone has their own philosophy on how to operate, but if you size it right at the horsepower needed, there&rsquo;s the risk of shutting down.&rdquo; He says if a larger motor than the load requires is bought and installed, it costs more but, on the plus side, it will stay cooler and will have a longer life. And less load on an oversized motor shouldn&rsquo;t affect the efficiency. &ldquo;Motors are pretty efficient throughout a wide range,&rdquo; Basso says. &ldquo;If it&rsquo;s 95 percent efficient at full load, then it should be 95 percent efficient at half load.&rdquo;
Mike Curci, capital sales manager for biomass equipment at Andritz, a pellet press manufacturer, says when sizing equipment, the goal is to be as efficient as possible. &ldquo;We look at mass balance, the materials coming and the quality specifications required for offtake, and we have a formula we put all this information into,&rdquo; Curci says. &ldquo;Then we make adjustments, for example, cap-ex vs. op-ex. Op-ex is important because it can save money over a long period of time. There are a number of factors. But we size it up to get the most efficient result possible.&rdquo;
When Indeck Ladysmith sizes motors for various applications, Zimmerman says it&rsquo;s a series of trials and errors with suggestions from the manufacturer. &ldquo;When we change a motor, we usually go with same horsepower,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I have a spare for every motor here. When buying new, we might up the service factor to 1.15 or 1.25.&rdquo; A 1.25 service factor means a motor rated at 10 horsepower can operate at 12.5 horsepower in short intervals as needed. He says buying NEMA-premium motors vs. older, high-efficiency models doesn&rsquo;t cost that much more. &ldquo;If I had a failure and didn&rsquo;t have a spare, I would upgrade to a more efficient motor,&rdquo; Zimmerman says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to get a cheap, less-efficient motor to replace it with. It&rsquo;s a process of continually upgrading our facility.&rdquo;
While buying a more efficient motor may cost a little more upfront, there is a payback in lower energy use. Carbone says the initial purchase price of the motor is only 2 percent of the total ownership costs. Standley says though it depends on energy costs and how much more efficient a new motor replacement is, payback from efficiency savings can be pretty quick. &ldquo;Some are in months, and some are in years,&rdquo; he says. Hanna says while a new Toshiba NEMA-premium motor may cost $30,000, even a 1 percent efficiency increase could net payback in 5 to 7 years to the user. &ldquo;The average life of a motor is 25 to 30 years,&rdquo; Hanna says. &ldquo;Some are in the field for 40 or 50 years. It will run as long as you maintain and take care of it.&rdquo;
In addition to a more efficient motor paying for itself through less energy usage, some states and utilities provide rebates or financial incentives to purchase new, higher-efficiency designs. &ldquo;It varies state to state and by the local power provider,&rdquo; Curci says. &ldquo;Pellet plants are very big customers to power plants. And there are some benefits to being more efficient in the U.S. when it comes to offtake agreements in the EU in terms of a lower carbon footprint. Anytime a pellet plant can become more efficient and reduce its carbon footprint, it drives money toward the bottom line. It&rsquo;s an important step.&rdquo;
Standley says prior to government guidelines, utilities all over the country were paying customers to buy more efficient motors. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the low-hanging fruit,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t want to have to build more power stations.&rdquo;
In Ladysmith, Wisconsin, Zimmerman says Indeck Ladysmith&rsquo;s utility provides incentives to help pay for 50 percent of the project costs in moving to variable frequency drive motors. Beyond NEMA-premium Though NEMA-premium regulations went into full force June 1, manufacturers are providing motors that surpass these standards.
&ldquo;WEG makes some models that are two more efficiency bands above NEMA-premium,&rdquo; Basso says. &ldquo;We call it SuperPremium.&rdquo; The downside, he says, is that it&rsquo;s a Design A. Different motors with the same nominal horsepower may have different start current, torque curves, speeds and other variables. NEMA classifies motor designs into A, B, C and D. With WEG&rsquo;s Design A SuperPremium, Basso says the purchaser should review their starter and cable sizing before installing so it doesn&rsquo;t present problems since it draws more current. &ldquo;The plant may already have Design A, but they have to know,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t go blindly into it or you may trip the breakers since it&rsquo;s got a high starting torque.&rdquo;
Also, direct-drive permanent magnet motors that eliminate the rotor and its inherent losses are advances that will help move motor technology forward into even further efficiencies, Basso adds. And unlike conventional induction motor technology, which usually requires larger sizes for increased efficiencies, direct-drive permanent magnet motors can gain efficiencies while decreasing in size.
Standley says efficiency in conventional motor technology is close to being tapped out. &ldquo;At 95-plus percent efficiency, how much more can you drive out?&rdquo; he asks. &ldquo;New technologies in construction material or ways to remove friction forces are constantly being reviewed.&rdquo;
Baldor recently announced a new hybrid motor design with performance two to four efficiency bands above NEMA-premium. &ldquo;Using advanced technology, which combines the starting attributes of an induction cage with permanent magnets, the new RPM XE platform can provide substantial energy savings and performance for most centrifugal load applications,&rdquo; the company states. &ldquo;The motor starts like a traditional Design B induction motor and pulls into true synchronous speed and operates as a true synchronous machine. Laminated finned frame construction also contributes to power density and enhanced thermal performance by providing greater heat dissipation, which results in cooler operation and longer motor life.&rdquo;
What&rsquo;s next for government regulation in motor efficiency, Basso says, is improving entire systems, not just the motors themselves. DOE analysis shows that more than 70 percent of the total potential motor system energy savings is estimated to be available through system improvements by reducing system load requirements, reducing or controlling motor speed, matching component sizes to the load, upgrading component efficiency, implementing better maintenance practices and downsizing the motor when possible.
&ldquo;The motor industry is not glitzy, it&rsquo;s not high-tech,&rdquo; Standley says. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re constantly looking for ways to improve.&rdquo;
Author: Ron Kotrba Senior Editor, Pellet Mill Magazine 218-745-8347 rkotrba@bbiinternational.com

Toshibaâ€™s line-up includes the Dura-Bull medium-voltage product (larger) and the EQP Global low-voltage motor.    

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Induction motors turn electrical energy into mechanical movement and consist of electromagnetic stators, rotors and winding.

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WEG produces electrical motors of all sizes and for all applications, including the three models shown here, which surpass NEMA-premium standards by two efficiency bands. The company calls these SuperPremium motors. 

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Baldorâ€™s new RPM XE motor exceeds NEMA-premium efficiency standards through the use of hybrid technology.   

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Andritz hammer mills, shown here, are used in wood pellet plants for the production of uniform, fine wood particles for pelleting in the presses. 

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New federal regulations went into effect June 1 that require motor manufacturers to produce an even broader scope of more efficient designs for the U.S. industrial market. 

Taming the Power-Hungry Beast 

A German-designed Wittus pellet stove has been named winner of the third Pellet Stove Design Challenge, an event coordinated by the Alliance for Green Heat and this year hosted by the U.S. DOE&rsquo;s Brookhaven National Lab. The competition aims to promote innovation in wood and pellet heating.
The Wittus Pellwood, distributed by a New York company, is an innovative prototype that can burn both pellets and cordwood, achieving very low emissions of less than half a gram per hour, according to John Ackerly, president of the Alliance for Green Heat.
A stove made by Seraph Industries, the smallest U.S. pellet stove manufacturer, won second place, consistently burning under 1 gram per hour, and has innovative features to help and encourage the consumer to keep the stove operating well.

Niels Wittus (left) and RenÃ© Bindig of Team Wittus are congratulated on their win by Alliance for Green Heat staff.  

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Pellet Stove Design Challenge winner announced

Wood Resources International&rsquo;s North American Wood Fiber Review has reported North American overseas pellet exports increased for the third-consecutive quarter during the final three months of 2015, increasing 7 percent from the prior quarter and reaching more than 1.7 million tons.
During the fourth quarter of last year, Canadian exports increased 17 percent when compared to the previous quarter, with shipments to both Europe and Asia increasing.
In the U.S., exports from the industrial pellet sector in the South are all flowing to Europe, primarily to the U.K. Newly operating facilities in the South helped exports from Gulf ports to increase by nearly 70 percent between the second quarter of 2015 and the final quarter of the year. However, shipments to Europe have fallen during the first quarter of this year. The NAWFR predicts the decrease is a temporary pause caused by lower demand in Europe due to the unusually warm winter. For the full year, pellet exports reached 6.1 million tons, 2 percent higher than 2014 and nearly four times higher than 2010.

North American pellet exports continue to increase

Sweden&rsquo;s per-capita consumption of wood pellets is more than 20 times that of the United States. If every American consumed as many wood pellets as every Swedish citizen does, pellet consumption in the U.S. would soar to over 60 million tons annually, instantaneously tripling the total global market. As recently as 2007, Sweden was the world&rsquo;s largest producer and consumer of wood pellets, and tracing the growth of the wood pellet industry in Sweden is an object lesson in how a combination of public policy and natural resources can be leveraged to completely reimagine and reengineer a country&rsquo;s energy strategy.
Prior to the oil crisis of 1973, Sweden relied almost exclusively on fossil fuel to meet its energy needs. Nearly 90 percent of the country&rsquo;s heating needs were met almost entirely by using heating oil. The trend continued through the overnight oil-price hikes in 1979, when the country made a decision to turn dramatically away from oil-derived heating inputs. Coal and woody biomass played nearly equal roles throughout the 1980s. Then, in 1991, Sweden introduced a tax on carbon dioxide emissions becoming one of the first countries in the world to do so. Since then, the use of coal, natural gas and heating oil has fallen steadily, and today those three sources combined represent just over 10 percent of heat inputs, while woody biomass provides the vast majority of the remaining share.
Sweden is roughly the size of California, and nearly 60 percent of it is covered in dense stands of spruce and pine. Not surprisingly then, forestry and the forest products are a cornerstone of the Swedish economy generating over 10 percent of the country&rsquo;s employment and GDP. The widely distributed forest products sector provided fertile ground for a wood-based bioenergy industry to take root, and upon the introduction of the carbon dioxide tax, it grew rapidly. Today, Sweden boasts nearly 100 pellet production facilities capable of producing over 2 million tons annually. Actual production has held closer to 1.5 million tons per year and Sweden continues to import pellet volumes to meet its annual consumption demand. Around half of the plants in Sweden are quite small, producers making a couple thousand tons per year. The remainder more closely resemble the pellet facilities commonly found in the northeastern United States, with production volumes below 100,000 tons per year often collocated with other forest products manufacturing sites.
Forssj&ouml; Pellets near Katrineholm is representative of many of pellet plants in Sweden that generate the bulk of the country&rsquo;s annual volume. The facility is a wholly owned subsidiary of Group Sandasa Timber AB and is collocated with Forssj&ouml; sawmill, a mill with an annual output of nearly 80,000 cubic meters of sawn pine and spruce. The operation, overseen by the affable Per Stenegard, prides itself on the full utilization of all of the material that comes into the facility.
&ldquo;About 50 percent of a harvested tree&rsquo;s biomass never leaves the forest,&rdquo; Stenegard says. &ldquo;Our goal is to fully utilize the 50 percent that does come into our plant.&rdquo; Drawing a cross section of a received log on a piece of paper, Stenegard explains how a round log is quickly and efficiently transformed into a more usable rectangular shape within the first four cuts. He explains that these off cuts become clean chips and are ultimately converted into pulp and paper. Each log is then measured and evaluated by a laser, and a computer identifies the combination of boards that will maximize the log and generate the least amount of waste. As Stenegard talks, logs whisk by and a schematic cartoon of each log and its soon-to-be-yielded boards flash on a nearby computer terminal.
Outside of the cutting room, open-sided sheds with conveyors running over their roofs slowly fill with perfect white wood chips. The waste streams are aggregated by type and Stenegard points out the clean chip bunker, a bunker for bark and at least two different bunkers for sawdust. The sawdust, generated when the log blanks are sawn into the dimensional products, is the raw material the pellet facility converts into pellets. &ldquo;About 70 percent of the raw material we use in the pellet facility comes from our own sawmilling operation,&rdquo; Stenegard says. &ldquo;We do bring in some additional material and we work with our colleagues in nearby sawmills for the other 30 percent.&rdquo;
As the bunkers fill, the material is moved to a storage yard, a vast paved surface at the facility&rsquo;s northernmost end. The sawdust is segregated by species and aged before it is converted into wood pellets. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve learned that aging the sawdust is an important step in our process,&rdquo; Stenegard reports. Once inside, a proprietary blend of spruce and pine is introduced into one of Forssj&ouml;&rsquo;s two Andritz pellet presses. Finished product is stored in a large A-frame building in slowly growing, mammoth piles. The pellets that are not sold in bulk are bagged in 35 pound bags. The bags are longer and thinner than the bags traditionally used in North America and Forssj&ouml;&rsquo;s bags proudly carry the national colors of Sweden (blue and yellow) and read simply, &ldquo;Svensk Trapellets&rdquo; or &ldquo;Swedish Wood Pellets.&rdquo;
While the science of pellet production has changed little since Forssj&ouml; began operations in 1995, the business surrounding servicing pellet customers has changed. &ldquo;Customers are showing increasing interest in understanding the story of how our pellets are made, and how far the material that makes up our pellets has to travel,&rdquo; he says.
Lately, Stenegard and his team concern themselves with driving efficiency into the storage and delivery side of their operation. To maximize the available trucking assets during the plant&rsquo;s busiest months, Forssj&ouml; is increasingly managing their customer&rsquo;s pellet inventory levels by utilizing automatic storage bin level detectors. These detectors alert the plant when the customer is able to receive a full truck load of pellets and reduces the number of partial loads, or multi-stop deliveries, both of which are critical in December, January and February when deliveries are at their annual peak.
Stenegard&rsquo;s pride in the sawmill and pellet operation is immediately apparent. In this way, he is representative of Sweden&rsquo;s broader wood bioenergy industry. The country is rich in forest resources and continues to leverage those resources to drive down the carbon intensity of their economy, working toward an ambitious goal of a 40 percent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2020 and no net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Goals like this are ambitious even by European standards. Still, considering Sweden&rsquo;s size, its relatively low population, its rich forest resource and commitment to the total utilization of the materials it harvests from them, a bet against Sweden achieving these targets seems ill-advised. Author: Tim Portz Executive Editor, Pellet Mill Magazine 701-738-4969 tportz@bbiinternational.com

The ForssjÅ‘ sawmill and pellet production facility in central Sweden fully utilizes the pine and spruce logs it receives. Whole logs are received and all of the fiber is fully utilized. Bark and hog fuel provide the facility with vital process heat.

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ForssjÃ¶ Pellets exemplifies the Swedish pellet industry, at one time the global leader in pellet production and consumption. 

Sweden's Strong Suit

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Whether on the road toward complying with new regulation or championing for equal consideration in policy, the pellet industry persists in its ongoing conviction. 

Perennial Battles

A recent report on Vermont&rsquo;s clean energy industry has determined the state has the highest number of per-capita clean energy jobs in the nation. The wood energy industry is among the clean energy industry segments addressed in the report.
The analysis determined wood energy firms employ 1,542 full-time-equivalent workers across the component subsectors of logging, wood fuels, including chips, pellets and firewood, combustion systems and power stations. These businesses are mostly small, with 84 percent reporting only five or fewer permanent employees.
Chip and pellet firms were found to employ more workers per firm and attribute more revenue to wood energy activities when compared to the overall wood energy average. Only 64 percent of these employers reported five or fewer&nbsp; permanent employees, with 58 percent reporting that all of their revenue is attributable to wood energy.

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Vermont report features wood energy employment data 

Though a Potlach, Idaho, pellet plant project announced last spring by Centennial Renewable Energy hasn&rsquo;t yet come to fruition, the project is still alive and working to overcome final hurdles.
The company plans to develop a pellet plant on 48 of 135 acres on the site of the Potlatch Lumber Co. timber plant, which was built in the early 1900s and shuttered in 1979.
&ldquo;The Potlatch mill was one of the largest in the country&hellip; It was turned into a brownfield site in 1981, and nothing has operated there since,&rdquo; said CRE CEO Rick Fawcett. &ldquo;It was a mill town, everything was owned by Potlatch, and it&rsquo;s been severely economically depressed ever since.&rdquo;
The current plant design is for roughly 175,000 to 200,000 tons of pellets per year, but Fawcett said it isn&rsquo;t likely CRE will operate on that scale. &ldquo;The reason for that is there isn&rsquo;t enough water at the location,&rdquo; he explains.
The project is expected to utilize Andritz&rsquo;s SteamEx black pellet technology. &ldquo;If we do the steam explosion pellets&mdash;and that&rsquo;s what our permit was submitted as&mdash;we&rsquo;ll have to descope the project down to meet the availability of water,&rdquo; Fawcett said.

Black pellet project in Idaho works to overcome challenges

In May, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit delayed oral arguments on the U.S. EPA&rsquo;s Clean Power Plan. Oral arguments were originally scheduled to be heard June 2 by a panel of three judges, but will now go en banc, or before a full 11-judge panel bench Sept. 27. The new court date is expected to speed up the case&rsquo;s final resolution, as the losing party would likely have appealed for an en banc hearing.
The Clean Power Plan aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. The EPA published the rulemaking for the plan in the Federal Register in October 2015. Several lawsuits were filed in response to the CPP, including one signed by 24 states. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court granted a request to delay implementation of the CPP until the legal challenge field in the lower challenges are resolved.
Also in May, the EPA announced it is deferring action on a petition for reconsideration regarding the treatment of biomass in carbon pollution standards for new, modified and reconstructed electric-generating units pending &ldquo;further ongoing consideration of the underlying issue of whether and how to account for biomass when cofiring with fossil fuels.&rdquo;

Court delays Clean Power Plan oral arguments 

The U.K.-based Port of Tyne has announced plans to start building new facilities to handle, store and transport wood pellets for Lynemouth Power Ltd. following its conversion to biomass. Under the agreement, the port will handle, store and transport up to 1.8 million metric tons of pellet annually. According to the port, construction has begun on its estate at the Tyne Dock in South Shields to build a 75,000 metric ton storage facility, three enclosed conveyors and transfer towers, three silos, a rail loading silo and other works. The Port of Tyne is contributing &pound;13 million ($18.99 million), with the majority of the investment being made by LPL.
&ldquo;We have been at the forefront of developing expertise and facilities to handle the renewable fuel, wood pellets, and I am delighted that LPL have chosen the Port of Tyne as a key partner in this significant development,&rdquo; said Andrew Moffat, CEO of the Port of Tyne

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Port of Tyne secures agreement to handle pellets for Lynemouth facility  

Advanced Torrefaction Systems LLC recently collaborated with Idaho National Laboratory to test a catalytic oxidation technology that aims to address problems that have hampered the development of torrefaction plants.
Highly volatile gases, mainly carbon monoxide (CO) and a wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are produced during the torrefaction process.&nbsp; Those gases contain significant energy that is wasted if not beneficially utilized.&nbsp; ATS&rsquo;s patented TorreCat technology uses an oxidation catalyst to combust volatile gases and convert them to an inert gas stream of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and steam. The inert gas can be used as an industrial heat source. When cooled, it can also be used in downstream processes.&nbsp;
ATS worked with the INL to design and install an oxidation catalyst in&nbsp; INL&rsquo;s torrefaction system in Idaho Falls, Idaho.&nbsp; Two rounds of tests were performed at different temperature levels.&nbsp; Tyler Westover, an INL engineer who oversaw the experiment, said that &ldquo;the tests were successful and the catalyst destroyed CO and VOCs below detection levels.&nbsp; In addition, the inert gas stream from the catalyst was successfully used directly in the reactor as a heat source.&rdquo;

Representatives of Advanced Torrefaction Systems (left) monitor a test of an oxidation catalyst designed to make torrefaction safer, cleaner and more efficient. 

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ATS, INL test oxidation catalyst 

Northeast Wood Products LLC commenced pellet production late last year at its retrofitted 120,000-ton-per-year pellet plant in Jasper, Tennessee. Now, poised for ramp up, the company is waiting on the sidelines until the market rebounds.
Guy Mozzicato, president of NWP, said some modifications are being done to the feed system at the Jasper plant to fix dust issues. Some adjustments are also underway to contain fugitive fiber. &ldquo;Aside from that, the plant is ready to function at its designed capacity of 120,000 tons per year,&rdquo; Mozzicato said. He added extensions are in place to house additional pellet mills. &ldquo;Basically, the entire infrastructure is there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Given the market conditions&mdash;the strength of the dollar, the soft demand for the export markets&mdash;we&rsquo;re just seeing where heating oil goes this year and where temperatures go. We&rsquo;re all dressed and ready to play, we are just sitting on the bench right now.&rdquo;
As of May, the plant was operating on a restricted level. &ldquo;We have a well-trained crew there that&rsquo;s functioning, but instead of running the anticipated number of hours, we&rsquo;re running at a fraction of that,&rdquo; Mozzicato said.

Tennessee plant operational, waiting to ramp up production  

1. 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. 2. Rural Energy earns certification U.K.-based Rural Energy has completed the combined-heat-and-power 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. 3. UK official appointed Alex Chisholm has been appointed as the new permanent secretary for the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change. Chisholm previously served as chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority. 4. 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; 5. 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 organization&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. 6. PFI qualifies new facilities under standards program The Pellet Fuels Institute has announced the qualification of pellet fuel manufacturer Northeast Wood Products Jasper LLC of Jasper, Tennessee, into the PFI Standards Program. New England Wood Pellet also got its Allegheny plant in Youngsville, Pennsylvania, added to the program. Georgia Biomass of Waycross, Georgia, and Smith Flooring of Mountain View, Missouri, are two more recently qualified additions. The PFI Standards Program now represents 15 pellet manufacturing companies with a combined 24 facilities. 7. SBP approves PwC as certification body The Sustainable Biomass Partnership has announced PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Canada 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 resources 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 regulatory requirements, 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 woodchip mills and the biomass supply chain. &nbsp; 8. 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. 9. Doosan Babcock wins contract U.K.-based energy engineering firm Doosan Babcock has been awarded a multimillion-pound contract to deliver the combustion and emissions systems for the biomass conversion of Lynemouth power station near Newcastle in the U.K. The power station&rsquo;s three 140 MW coal boilers are being converted to biomass.&nbsp; Under terms of the contract, Doosan Babcock will deliver the complete scope of boiler works, including the modification of mills and electrostatic precipitators, and the replacement of fans, a low-NOx combustion system and ash-handling systems. Once complete, the&nbsp; plant will consume approximately 1.4 million metric tons of sustainable wood pellets per year for the next 10 years. 
10. UNTHA announces new shredder Austrian-based UNTHA has announced a new electric-drive shredder. The UNTHA XR shredder has been designed and engineered to increase capacity, profitability and safety levels in the wood recycling and biomass market. A slow-speed, high-torque drive allows the XR to consistently process up to 40 metric tons of wood per hour. The system significantly minimizes dust levels, which reduces the risk of fire. It is available as either a static or mobile solution. Trials have shown that the XR produces fines as low as 5 percent. As a result, the shredder yields up to 20 percent more saleable biomass material per ton than other solutions, often without the need for any additional screening systems. 11. Rural Energy adds team member Rural Energy has boosted its in-house design capabilities with the addition of Carlyne Parillon as senior design engineer. In her role, Parillon will interpret client briefs and be responsible for concept and detailed designs of energy centers.&nbsp; She has more than seven years of experience designing district heating systems.

Technology Partners: 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, Rur

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Business Briefs

On June 23rd, in an unprecedented and historic move, the U.K. voted to leave the European Union by a vote of 52 to 48 percent.&nbsp; Prime Minister David Cameron resigned shortly after the results were tallied and markets faltered at the initial shock.&nbsp; While it is too early to know the full implications of this action, we do have some understanding of how the U.K. will begin to unwind its relationship with the EU and what this might mean for export/import industries like ours.
The legal mechanism that triggers exit discussions and negotiations is Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. The Treaty sets out the process&mdash;first, the U.K. must formally notify the EU of intent to leave, then a deal must be negotiated on phasing out of EU-funded programs, relocation of EU offices in the U.K., and on government services ranging from food safety to environment. The negotiation period must be completed within two years. The negotiated deal will need to be approved by 65 percent of the members of European Parliament (20 of 27 members).&nbsp; Until the U.K. negotiates this pathway to formally depart the EU, there will be no change in operations or trade and EU law will still apply.
The leaders of the Leave campaign have portrayed an air of calm in order to ease uncertainties, indicating that Article 50 will not be invoked and the EU will not be formally notified of the U.K.'s decision to leave until a new prime minister is put in place in early September.&nbsp; Party politics within the Conservative Party have evolved quickly as various members position themselves for a run for prime minister over the summer.
Response from the EU has been mixed with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker calling for a quick end to what was &ldquo;never a tight love affair,&rdquo; whereas German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said there is no need for nastiness and anticipates the U.K. exit can be done in an amicable, businesslike manner.&nbsp; Conversations at the EU level will continue over the summer until a new U.K. prime minister is elected.
U.K. residents have also shown a mixed response to the outcome of the vote.&nbsp; There have already been media reports of regret among some Leave voters citing a lack of understanding of the full ramifications of this vote. The extent to which these feelings are pervasive remains to be seen. A majority of Scotland residents voted to remain in the EU and there are some calling for another referendum vote to separate Scotland from the U.K. and rejoin the EU as a new member state.&nbsp; Similar sentiment has been seen in Northern Ireland.
There are still many unanswered questions: Will EU climate targets remain intact or will the U.K. develop its own?&nbsp; Will these negotiations distract the European Commission from its work on a bioenergy policy for post-2020?&nbsp; Will we see a domino effect across Europe with other countries that are skeptical of remaining in the EU?
As for the pellet industry, Drax Power remains committed to biomass and Amber Rudd, head of the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change, has publicly declared that the U.K.&rsquo;s energy priorities remain the same&mdash;energy security, low energy bills and a low-carbon energy infrastructure.
We anticipate the U.K. will remain the largest importer of U.S.-produced wood pellets, and we stand ready to continue to make the case for biomass as an affordable, base-load, low-carbon energy solution&mdash;both inside and outside the EU. Author: Seth Ginther Executive Director U.S. Industrial Pellet Association 804-771-9540 sginther@hf-law.com

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While it is too early to know the full implications of the U.K. vote to leave the European Union, Ginther provides some insight on what it might mean for export/import industries, like the pellet industry. 

What's Next for the UK? 

Sometimes well-intended incentives can become counterproductive de facto regulations.&nbsp; Let me explain what I mean in the context of efforts here in the Northeast to spur market adoption of modern wood heating.
Advocates of modern wood heating have worked very hard to encourage state energy agencies to consider incentives for modern pellet boilers.&nbsp; These agencies have supported solar thermal, geothermal and a host of renewable electricity technologies, so it has seemed logical to extend policy support for pellet boilers to help these states make clear, measurable progress toward broad renewable energy targets.&nbsp; It took time, but these agencies have come around to the importance of supporting modern wood heating.
New Hampshire was the first state to promulgate a wood pellet boiler rebate program, initially for homeowners, and then for commercial building owners.&nbsp; The program specified a high output efficiency requirement, minimum volume of bulk pellet storage and full automation of fuel feed.&nbsp;
Maine followed suit with similar technical requirements.&nbsp; The two state programs have been very successful because they made it relatively simple for folks to apply and they kept technical requirements reasonable.&nbsp; They have collectively helped to support nearly 1,000 home, business, school and municipal installations.
Vermont started slowly but has come on strong in the past year, with rebate levels and straightforward program guidelines that should have a real market impact.&nbsp; Massachusetts started with a pilot program and now has a fully implemented residential rebate program, with a much-anticipated commercial program due out very soon.
These programs all set a high technology bar.&nbsp; The results are compelling: millions of gallons of imported oil displaced, strong incentives for private investment in bulk wood pellet delivery trucks and double-digit annual growth in wood pellet central heating.&nbsp; In short, these programs are helping to build a market.
Then there is New York.&nbsp; Efforts over several years by the New York Bioenergy Association and others finally resulted in Gov. Andrew Cuomo&rsquo;s announcement in 2014 of &ldquo;Renewable Heat New York,&rdquo; a multiyear, multimillion-dollar initiative to support residential and now commercial installation of modern wood pellet boilers.&nbsp; Advocates were elated to see this high-level recognition.&nbsp; Cuomo spoke of the important role this technology could play in economic development and reducing dependence on imported fossil heating fuels.
Sadly, as designed and implemented by the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency, the program has been very slow on the uptake, despite offering rebates of up to 45 percent of the installed capital cost.&nbsp; This is largely because it insisted on such unnecessarily stringent technical requirements and administrative hoops and hurdles for installers that systems that meet the requirements actually cost more to install with the rebate than an advanced system that does not have to meet the requirements without a rebate.
NYSERDA is, first and foremost, a research and development (R&amp;D) agency, with a respected track record of research into understanding the performance of wood-burning technology.&nbsp; For this, it should be commended.&nbsp; Its capable researchers understand what constitutes best-in-class technology for modern wood heating.
The problem is pushing the very leading edge of R&amp;D results does not necessarily align with delivery of real world programs to catalyze market adoption.&nbsp; The market is not ready for unnecessarily stringent requirements and associated costs, with or without rebates.&nbsp; Without meaningful market penetration, modern wood heat cannot and will not reach scale where unit costs will start to come down&mdash;such as what has happened so dramatically with solar PV.
By delegating the implementation of Renewable Heat New York to a R&amp;D agency, Cuomo&rsquo;s potential for this initiative has largely been squandered.&nbsp; Efforts by advocates to urge NYSERDA to better align this program with marketplace realities have been mostly met with indifference.&nbsp;
In this time of low fossil-fuel heating prices, folks won&rsquo;t install pellet boilers without the rebate, and they won&rsquo;t install them with the rebate because technical and administrative requirements are beyond the capacity of this nascent market to embrace.&nbsp; The result&mdash;no market growth at all in New York state, the largest heating oil-consuming state in the country.
In this way, a well-intentioned initiative, Renewable Heat New York, has become a de facto regulation.&nbsp; Fossil energy prices will not stay low forever.&nbsp; I hope that as conventional heating costs come up again, NYSERDA will sit down with its colleagues from other northeastern states and progressive industry leaders and revisit its technical and administrative requirements, drop its guard a bit, and allow a phased approach that will help build some market penetration.&nbsp; Author: Charlie Niebling Consultant and Partner Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC 603-965-5434 niebling@inrsllc.com

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Niebling says sometimes well-intended incentives, such as those associated with Renewable Heat New York, can become de facto regulations. These initiatives and others must better align with marketplace realities to build market penetration.

When Good Intentions Become Counterproductive

As you are probably aware, EPA&rsquo;s New Source Performance Standard for residential wood heaters requires pellet stove manufacturers to test their stoves to assure that the emissions are below regulated limits.&nbsp; As part of this regulation, EPA has stipulated that the fuel used to conduct the emissions test must be produced under a licensing agreement with an approved quality certification program, which includes the Pellet Fuels Institute Standards Program, ENplus and CANplus.&nbsp; Once testing is complete, stove manufacturers are required to incorporate language into their owner&rsquo;s manual specifying which fuel(s) are approved for use in the stove.&nbsp; The consumer is then required to buy only the specified fuel(s) or risk having the warranty considered void.&nbsp; It is ultimately this language that has put a regulatory onus upon producers of wood pellets to adopt these quality certification programs so that consumers will have compliant fuel to burn in any stove produced under the EPA&rsquo;s NSPS.
Irrespective of EPA&rsquo;s regulation, adoption of these quality certification programs brings great value to wood pellet producers in that they require a quality management plan that is intended to assure consistent product quality that complies with the grade criteria published for each grade.&nbsp; If implemented correctly, a well-designed quality management plan should also target increased production efficiency to optimize tonnage produced with the least amount of customer complaints or other product performance related issues.&nbsp; By optimizing throughput while minimizing product performance issues, the cost of these quality certification programs can be largely offset.&nbsp;&nbsp;
To date, I have had the pleasure of working with over 50 wood pellet production facilities within the U.S. and Canada to help develop their quality management plans.&nbsp; Most have been in conjunction with either a PFI Standards Program or ENplus certification, however several others have been for supplying power companies overseas.&nbsp; Regardless of the intended market or certification program, the quality management plan requirements are very similar.&nbsp; The following examples are specific components that I have found to be critical to optimizing overall plant efficiency regardless of which market or certification program you plan to participate in.
First and foremost, develop robust monitoring processes for your incoming feed materials.&nbsp; This includes fiber supply agreements that specifically define what is considered acceptable or unacceptable.&nbsp; Strong vigilance is needed to assure consistently compliant materials are received and to prevent inappropriate materials or contaminants from getting into the fiber.&nbsp; In addition, raw materials should be tested if they are questionable.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is most critical for producers that accept materials from a large number of suppliers where the wood pellet producer is not in direct control of the fiber in advance of receiving it.&nbsp; It is most advantageous if the testing can occur at the production site so quick decisions can be made to accept or reject the material.
Be sure your quality management plan reflects strong processes for monitoring your production data, equipment operating parameters, all maintenance and inspections.&nbsp; The main idea is to develop monitoring, inspection and maintenance practices that limit the amount of nonconforming product that could possibly be produced.&nbsp; As an example, if your screen plugs, a frequent inspection of the screen or running a fines test after the screen assures that only a small amount of production would need to be recovered if a problem is discovered.&nbsp; Conversely, if regular checks are not conducted then hundreds or even thousands of tons can be produced out of spec resulting in great effort to fix the problem.&nbsp; The best monitoring programs should focus on developing checks and inspections that assure non-conformance issues never exceed a single shift.
Invest in a robust on-site laboratory and take the time to confirm that all testing, sampling and sample preparation procedures are being conducted properly.&nbsp; To date, most of the production sites I visit are not performing tests correctly or the sampling and sample prep does not generate accurate test results.&nbsp; When first getting started, monitor as frequently as needed to assure a high level of confidence that your production is within spec (even multiple times per shift if necessary).&nbsp; As you gain confidence in your ability to control various parameters, you can reduce your internal testing over time, but always keep at least a minimal amount of monitoring every shift.&nbsp;
If you adopt one of the quality certification schemes referenced in the EPA&rsquo;s NSPS (PFI Standards Program, ENplus or CANplus), you will already have the basis for a quality management plan that can achieve what I have outlined above.&nbsp; Sure, these quality certification programs cost money, however, there are cost savings as well, and the implementation of a well-designed quality management plan can and should result in better overall production efficiency, more consistent product quality, reduced consumer complaints and, hopefully, a better bottom line for the producer.&nbsp; In time, if enough producers adopt these programs, improved product performance as well as consumer confidence should be realized industrywide. Author: Chris Wiberg Lab Director, Timber Products Inspection/Biomass Energy Lab 218-428-3583 cwiberg@tpinspection.com

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If implemented correctly, a well-designed quality management plan should target increased production efficiency to optimize pellet tonnage produced with the least amount of customer complaints or other product performance related issues. 

Optimizing Efficiency Through  Quality Management 

This issue of Pellet Mill Magazine will likely find many producers in the final stages of an annual summer slowdown. If the conversations we&rsquo;ve had with producers are any indication, this summer&rsquo;s slowdown will likely be a little longer than others, because many producers are sitting on significant carryover inventory from last year. Producers are also wondering how much inventory their customers might be sitting on and how that will impact the ordering activity as retailers begin to lay in their early fall items, including wood pellets. Last year was a disappointment for the industry and hopes are high that a La Ni&ntilde;a cycle will bring at the very least a more normal heating season and, optimistically, a colder-than-normal winter to make up for last year. We&rsquo;re looking forward to attending and reporting on the upcoming Pellet Fuels Institute Annual Conference, and we&rsquo;ll be asking producers about retailer inquiries and ordering activity while we&rsquo;re there.
Anyone who has worked in the renewable energy sector generally and the wood pellet sector specifically understands how important public policy is to industry growth and stability, a notion underscored multiple times in this issue. If you ever wondered if you&rsquo;re getting value out of your annual dues to the trade associations you belong to, I can&rsquo;t recommend Associate Editor Katie Fletcher&rsquo;s<a href="http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/13429/perennial-battles"> &ldquo;Perennial Battles&rdquo;</a> enough. Since I began working in the biomass space eight years ago, I&rsquo;ve been hearing about the challenge that producers of renewable thermal energy have in getting policy parity with other renewables. Fortunately, trade associations like the Biomass Thermal Energy Council and the Pellet Fuels Institute maintain constant pressure on our elected officials to recognize the significance of thermal energy and the importance of building policies that recognize the contributions renewable thermal energy solutions like wood pellets can make toward renewable portfolio and greenhouse gas emissions goals.
After reading Fletcher&rsquo;s story, read the story about my visit to Sweden and Forssj&ouml; Pellets, a production facility not too far from Stockholm. In the 1970s, the use of wood pellets in Sweden was nonexistent despite a robust wood products sector which generated plenty of feedstock. The oil crisis and price hikes in that decade got the ball rolling for the industry, but a tax on carbon dioxide gave rise to the pellet industry the country has today, whereby nearly 90 percent of the country&rsquo;s heating needs are met with wood waste and wood pellets. Sweden&rsquo;s broad use of woody biomass now illustrates how vital continued policy advocacy is in unlocking and growing markets.
Tim Portz VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT &amp; EXECUTIVE EDITOR tportz@bbiinternational.com

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Anyone who has worked in the renewable energy sector generally and the wood pellet sector specifically understands how important public policy is to industry growth and stability, a notion underscored multiple times in the July/August issue. 

July/August

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

What's Next for the UK?

When Good Intentions Become Counterproductive

Optimizing Efficiency Through Quality Management

On Our Behalf

Featured

Taming the Power-Hungry Beast

Sweden's Strong Suit

Perennial Battles

July/August.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

What's Next for the UK?

When Good Intentions Become Counterproductive

Optimizing Efficiency Through Quality Management

On Our Behalf

Featured

Taming the Power-Hungry Beast

Sweden's Strong Suit

Perennial Battles

July/August