Tag Archives: wood
Wood: Fastest Growing Heating Fuel In America
October 03, 2013 • Source: USCensus/IHB Recently official released statistics from the US Census Bureau reveal that wood or wood pellets are again the fastest growing heating fuel in America. In 2012, 63.566 more families used wood or pellets as a primary heating fuel, a 2.6% increase over 2011. Wood and pellet home heating grew by 34% in 10 years (2000-2010), ”faster than any other of the fossil fuels, including solar and natural gas”, says US Census. Moreover, oil and propane use continuously declined since 2010. At the present, 2.5 million American households use wood as a primary heating fuel. Comparing with 500.000 that use solar panels and only 50.000 that use solar termal heating, wood is by far the most used renewable energy in the United States. 2.1% of Americans use wood or wood pellets as a primary heating fuel (2000: 1,6%) and 7,7% US households use it as a secondary heating fuel, according to the 2009 EIA Renewable Energy Consumption Survey. The US Census Bureau started recording heating data in 1950. Since then, wood heating has had some discordant fluctuations: in 1950, 10% of the US population was using wood as a heating method; to drop at 1,3% in 1970 at an all-time low. By 1990, this percentage went up to 3,9%, to drop again at 1.6% in 2000. Continue reading
UK Remains No.1 Consumer As North American Wood Pellet Exports Hit Record Levels
Wednesday 31 July 2013 09:15 The UK remains the number one destination for North American wood pellets as demand to fuel the nation’s growing number of biomass energy plants is boosting the supply chain. The latest export figures from the two primary pellet-producing regions on the North American continent – the US South and British Columbia – showed increases through early 2013, with the rate of growth now likely to increase further in the second half of the year. In the US South, pellet export volumes to Europe boasted double-digit growth after a brief pause in the fourth quarter of 2012. Export volumes were in excess of 1.7 million tons in 2012, as reported in the North American Wood Fiber Review Canadian exports also rose in 2012 to 1.5 million tons, but this increase was less than that seen in the US During the first quarter of 2013, total pellet exports from North America reached a new record of over 1 million tons for the quarter. This can be compared to the annual shipments of 750,000 tons just four years ago. The United Kingdom continues to strengthen its claim as the primary destination for North American pellets with over two-thirds of the export volume from the US and Canada going to the UK in the first quarter of 2013. Drax’s plans for its large power plant conversion from coal to biomass in Selby has created a stir across North America. Drax Biomass, a new sister company to Drax Power, that will manage North American operations, announced the construction of two pellet plants earlier this spring in the US South which will be sending pellets to fuel the UK facility. Also, in Eastern Canada, pellet producer Rentech announced an off-take agreement with Drax Biomass, which will result in new investment in ports to increase pellet-loading capacity, and in rail transportation, along with the construction and operation of two pellet facilities themselves. The increase in pellet production in Western Canada has pushed sawdust prices upward the past few years, with 2013 prices being about 15 percent higher than they were in 2010, as reported in the NAWFR. In the US South, where smaller logs from thinnings and treetops are commonly used for pellet manufacturing, there has not yet been any region-wide upward price pressure as a result of the new wood-consuming sector in the region. Continue reading
Berlin Biomass Plant Gets First Wood Delivery
Published Date: Tuesday, 27 August 2013 By Barbara Tetreault BERLIN — The Burgess BioPower plant hit a new milestone last week with the first delivery of wood as the facility advances through its testing and commissioning stage. Cate Street Capital vice president Alexandra Ritchie said the 75-megawatt biomass plant is scheduled to come on-line by the end of the year. Part of the wood processing structure for the Burgess BioPower biomass plant is this steel A-frame conveyor that sits about 60 feet high. Burgess BioPower has a 20-year purchase power agreement with Public Service of New Hampshire. Last Wednesday there were 398 people employed on site, down from the over 500 employed during the peak of construction. Ritchie said the construction phase is winding down as Cate Street hopes to get the plant operating by late November. She said the construction phase originally was projected to take 25.5 months but will probably end up taking closer to 27 months. On hand to witness the wood delivery were the state’s top energy officials participating in a tour arranged by state Senator Jeff Woodburn. Meredith Hatfield, director of the state Office of Energy Planning, Karen Cramton, deputy director of OEP, and Molly Connors, Gov. Maggie Hassan’s energy adviser along with Rob Riley and Jessica O’Hare of the Northern Forest Center spent about an hour walking the site and climbing to the top of the overhead conveyor for the plant’s wood handling system. Ritchie said the project has already had a significant impact on the local economy. She said the unions involved have worked hard to hire local people for the project. Site manager Carl Belanger estimated as many as half those hired were from the North Country. In addition, Ritchie said local hotels and food establishments have benefited from workers brought into the area to work on the project. Once the plant is operating, it will employ 30 to 40 people. Ritchie said Delta Power Services, which will operate and maintain the biomass plant under a six-year contract with Cate Street Capital, has already hired the majority of those full-time employees. Training for new employees is being done at White Mountains Community College. Beyond those hired directly, she said the project should stimulate hundreds of jobs in the wood products industry through the purchase of 750,000 tons of biomass annually. Ritchie said Cate Street Capital has a 20-year agreement to sell the power generated the plant to Public Service of N.H. which should provide security to logging contractors. Ritchie told the group the biomass plant is Cate Street Capital’s flagship project. “It is a project we are very proud of because of what it means to the area,” she said. Belanger explained the wood processing system for the plant. Truck dumpsters tilt the logging trucks and dump the biomass onto a reclaim conveyor, which transports the wood into the wood processing structure where it is screened and ground. The ground biomass is then fed into an A-frame conveyor that moves back and forth, depositing the wood in a pile under the conveyor. Under conveyors feed the biomass into a transfer conveyor that goes into the main boiler feed conveyor. The tour also went into the turbine building where the 265,000-pound turbine is housed. Ritchie called the turbine the most critical part of the facility and reported that Cate Street Capital actually ordered the turbine before it had final approval for the project because of the lead time involved. The turbine was built in Japan by Fiji and its delivery to Berlin last December was a major undertaking. Belanger also pointed out the bag house — called that because it contains 4,000 filter bags that screen out dust and particulates. A catalyst removes nitric oxide gas. A cooling tower cools the water from the turbine to allow its reuse. The plant will pull water from the city’s system to replace that lost in vaporization. Paving is under way at the site, and Ritchie said Cate Street Capital will also put in a community parking lot near Community Field as part of the public benefit of the project. The highpoint of the tour was to watch the first wood delivery. A load of wood chips harvested at a site in Canaan, Vt., was delivered by Hicks Logging of Jefferson. As the truck dumpster tilted the logging truck, biomass workers could be seen taking pictures of the wood chips emptying out. Continue reading
