On October 5, Doug Duncan, the Executive Director of the North Carolina Association of Professional Loggers spoke with Kelly Novak, Biomass Crop Assistance Program Specialist for the USDA about the new rules for the program. While Novak was unable to share specifics about subsidy rates and ceilings, she did offer insight into the definitions and processes that will be used to implement the program going forward. For the matching payments program:

• The definitions of both biomass conversion facility and eligible biomass will remain consistent with those outlined in the 2008 Farm Bill.
• All conversion facilities will have to reapply for eligibility, however, and the process will be much slower than it was under previous program rules. Conversion facilities should expect qualification to take 3 months.

 

In August 2007, the State of North Carolina became the second state in the South to implement a renewable electricity standard. (Texas was the first.) The standards were set at the following levels:

• 6% of 2014 North Carolina retail sales by 2015
• 10% of 2017 North Carolina retail sales by 2018
• 12.5% of 2020 North Carolina retail sales by 2021

A utility company may meet the requirements in one or more of the following ways:

• Generate electric power at a new renewable energy facility.
• Use a renewable energy resource to generate electric power at a generating facility (co-firing a renewable source with coal, for instance)

DEFINITION of RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES in PROPOSED FEDERAL RES

 

The importance of a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) to wood-to-energy markets cannot be overstated. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, because the RES is a market-based program, it:

• Achieves policy objectives at a relatively modest cost (ratepayer impacts range from less than 1 percent increases to 0.5 percent savings)
• Spreads compliance costs among all customers
• Minimizes the need for ongoing government intervention
• Functions in both regulated and unregulated state electricity markets
• Provides a clear and long-term target for renewable energy generation that can increase investors' and developers' confidence in the prospects for renewable energy

WOOD-TO-ENERGY MARKET NEWS

After months of halting progress in wood-to-energy markets, two companies have announced significant contract milestones. These advancements help strengthen the argument for biomass energy at a time when economic uncertainty continues to hamper investment in as yet unproven technology and government agencies propose standards that could place wood-burning plants in financial hardship.

BlueFire
Advanced biofuels technology loan guarantee programs (offered by the USDA and DOE) require that biofuels projects finalize credit worthy contracts in three areas before loan guarantees will be approved. BlueFire Renewables' planned Fulton, MS cellulosic ethanol plant has become the first facility to meet these requirements.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT: BOILER MACT RULE

 

PETE STEWART TO SPEAK IN ATLANTA