EVENT cellulosic ethanol tax credit and the volumetric excise tax credit for ethanol, paid to gasoline vendors who sell ethanol blends. Cleaves urged everyone in the industry to get involved, saying Congress relies on the private sector to come forward and emphasize needed adjustments. Michael McAdams, president of the Advanced Biofuels Association, agreed and said the industry needs a harmonized voice for change. Panelist Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the Algal Biomass Organization, is advocating algae as a feedstock for biofuels as well as other coproducts. Production mandates similar to the ones for cellulosic ethanol would incentivize algal biomass development and utilization. “We’re looking for parity from a feedstock perspective,” she said. Charlie Niebling, chairman of the board of directors for the Biomass Thermal Energy Council, said his organization is also focused on advocacy, but for awareness and recognition of thermal applications of biomass. There’s a tremendous opportunity to provide heat and power to residential, industrial and commercial facilities, he said. With so many legislative priorities to balance, it’s important to simplify as much as possible, Neal said. Cleaves added that being practical in the requests is crucial, ensuring the industry isn’t asking for too much at once. “Sometimes we feel like we’re just hanging on for the ride,” Rosenthal said, adding that the ABO is aiming to have full-time representation in Washington by next year. “I suggest we walk before we run and pick a no-brainer,” Niebling said.
GRE is working on plans to construct a 99-megawatt (MW) combined-heat-and-power plant in Spiritwood, N.D., that would produce cellulosic ethanol and a lignin pellet byproduct. For the past two years, GRE has been evaluating available biomass feedstocks within a 50-mile radius of the Spiritwood site to potentially cofire the plant. “From a broad perspective of what’s available, we found not much goes to waste in North Dakota,” Broekema said. “For example, a large potato processing plant and malting plant in the immediate area are already selling their waste streams.” Cofiring the Spiritwood plant with 10 percent biomass at 99 MW would require about 70,000 tons per year of raw biomass, or 10 tons per hour, assuming 5,000 Btu per pound, for a continuous operation. If GRE utilized crop residue, about 10,000 acres would be needed to supply the plant, according to Broekema. Once a feedstock source is secured, however, operational challenges remain. “There’s a level of confidence that says you can cofire 5 to 10 percent biomass without offering huge operational challenges,” Broekema said. “They [biomass crops] are more variable than the coal feedstock we’re used to—by season, the soils they’re grown in, variations in yearly rainfall and speciation in the crop that you’re looking at. For energy grasses, data just isn’t available on a widespread basis.” During biomass crop comparison tests, Broekema said in some samples, the alkali and moisture content varied by more than 100
Power Producers Take the Stage The future cost of CO2 is looming over power utilities. To avoid penalties and keep customer costs to a minimum, it’s imperative that utilities begin preparing for a carbon-constrained regulatory environment, according to Great River Energy Manager of Business Development Sandra Broekema. Broekema and others representing the Midwest’s largest power providers presented their views about biomass power challenges and benefits during the general session panel. GRE, a generation and transmission cooperative that serves 1.7 million people in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, has been working for quite some time to avoid future carbon expenses that will be imposed on utilities, Broekema said, costs which would be handed down to customers. “Looking at our generation portfolio, we have a fair amount of coal-fired generation which emits twice the CO2 footprint compared to a natural gas plant,” she said. “If a carbon tax/cost is imposed, that’s going to impact our members more than other utilities around the U.S. “ Broekema said besides keeping costs low, another primary concern of GRE is helping to reach Minnesota’s renewable energy standard of 25 percent by 2020. “We’re on pace to meet that,” she said. The cooperative is especially interested in biomass cofiring because it represents the opportunity for dispatchable power. “Wind and solar do not, so you can’t cost effectively manage that with energy demands,” she said.
Johnson, manager of biofuels development at Alliance Energy, participated in a general session panel called A Utility Perspective on Biomass Derived Power.
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