Over the past few months, there have been several changes to the wood bioenergy landscape in California. On the legislative front, three new bills have been introduced to the state legislature:
SB 32 was introduced in December of last year to amend the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB32). This bill will require the State Air Resources Board to approve a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 to below 80% of 1990 levels. This has an opportunity to drive a need for increased fuel reduction treatments throughout the state to as a means to manage current wildfire emissions.
On February 24th,
AB 590 was introduced to the state legislature for the purpose of allocating funds from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to a newly created
Biomass State Cost Share Account. This account will be used to maintain the current level of biomass power generation in the state and to revitalize idle facilities in strategically located areas.
SB 350 calls for a series of changes including a call for state power utilities to increase energy from renewable sources to 50 percent by 2030. Current California law only requires 33% of energy be generated from renewable sources. These efforts are aligned with Governor Brown's call for an "increase from one-third to 50 percent our electricity derived from renewable sources" in his 2015
inaugural address. While wood bioenergy is by no means the only renewable energy source, support of wood utilization will address multiple goals of fuel hazard reduction and air quality while developing a sustainable renewables infrastructure.
Extensive ownership and status changes to biomass power and wood processing facilities are also occurring throughout the state due to changing market conditions and power purchase agreements (PPA) nearing expiration. More details on PPA Delivery Dates and Contract Terms can be found
here.
New Online Facilities
Now Idle
- Shasta Renewable
- Phoenix Energy
- Greenleaf Eel River Power
- Greenleaf Tracy Biomass
- West Biofuels Gasifier
Cancelled
|
|
Additional
- Ownership or operator changes at Tracy Biomass(now Greenleaf)
- Operation of Shasta Renewable, Rio Bravo (Rocklin, Fresno, Jasmin and Poso), and Chinese Station has been taken over by IHI Power Services Corporation
Non-Operational
For the most current facility information, please refer to our Biomass Power Map. We will continue to update as more information become available, and always welcome firsthand updates of new biomass developments that have been missed.
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Posted on
Thursday, March 26, 2015 at
12:27 PM
Objective
Provide guidance to applicants on developing competitive applications for the Wood Innovations Grant Program.
Agenda
- 10 Minutes: Introduction, webinar organization, function of the UC Berkeley Woody Biomass, potential review assistance
- Peter Tittmann, UC Berkeley
- 20 Minutes: Explanation of funding opportunity, requirements, guidelines, examples of previous successful CA USFS grant applications and additional resources
- Larry Swan, US Forest Service Region 5 Biomass Coordinator
- 20 Minutes: Background to grant program, how applications are screened and evaluated at national level, suggestions concerning how to improve application to get the best possible scores, timeline for review and award announcement, and potential for grant program next year.
- Julie Tucker, US Forest Service Washington Office
- 30-45 Minutes: Question and answer with applicants
Webinar connection information
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Posted on
Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at
10:50 AM
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Join the UC Biomass Utilization Group for an informational webinar on the 2015 Wood Innovations Program. This program seeks proposals to expand and accelerate wood energy and wood products markets throughout the United States to support forest management needs in National Forest System and other forest lands.
Speakers
- Julie Tucker is the National Lead for Renewable Wood Energy and is based at the US Forest Service's Washington D.C. office.
- Larry Swan is the Woody Biomass and Utilization Specialist for USFS State and Private Forestry at the Region 5 office in Vallejo.
Larry and Julie will be giving short presentations followed by a Q & A session for applicants.
Wood Innovations Grant Program
The Wood Innovations Grant Program has been previously known as the Woody Biomass Utilization Grant Program and the Wood-to-Energy Grant Program. The scope of the program has expanded this year to include wood products as well as energy along with the range of projects in last years Wood-to-Energy Grant Program.
The Forest Service plans to award approximately $5 million under this announcement. The maximum for each award is generally $250,000; however, the Forest Service may consider awarding more than $250,000 to a proposal that shows far reaching or significant impact. Additional information on application requirements, eligibility, and prerequisites for consideration are available at www.na.fs.fed.us/werc/ and www.grants.gov.
Proposal submission deadline is: Friday, January 23, 2015 at 11:59 p.m.
Meeting Information:
To join the meeting from the web:
1) Go to: https://bluejeans.com/346088704?ll=en&g=ojuwg23tmf2g63ljibrgk4tlmvwgk6jomvshk===
To connect by phone:
1) Direct-dial with my iPhone or
+1 408 740 7256 +1 408 740 7256
+1 888 240 2560 +1 888 240 2560 (US Toll Free)
+1 408 317 9253 +1 408 317 9253 (Alternate Number)
2) Enter Meeting ID: 346088704
To connect directly from a room system:
1) Dial: 199.48.152.152 or bjn.vc
2) Enter Meeting ID: 346088704 -or- use the pairing code
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Posted on
Thursday, November 20, 2014 at
4:54 PM
The Wood Innovation Funding Opportunity is the newest incarnation of the Woody Biomass Utilization Grant and Wood-to-Energy Programs. The Forest Service plans to award approximately $5 million under this announcement. The maximum for each award is $250,000 with potential for more if the proposal demonstrates far reaching or significant impacts. A minimum 35% match from non-Federal sources is required to qualify for this proposal.
Important Dates:
The Wood Innovations Funding Opportunity is focused on, but not restricted to two main project categories:
- Expansion of wood energy markets that depend on forest residues or byproducts. These project types include State Wood Energy Teams, Wood Energy Projects, and Wood Energy Markets.
- Expansion of wood products markets for commercial building and innovative wood product.
Full details of examples of each category and sub-category are given in the Federal Register. They do not represent an exhaustive list and serve to provide a sense of the types of projects being considered.
Eligible Applicants: Eligible applicants are for-profit entities; State, local, and Tribal governments; school districts; communities; not-for-profit organizations; or special purpose districts (e.g., public utilities districts, fire districts, conservation districts, or ports).
Additional application information can be found at the WERC and at Grants.gov. Technical questions regarding Federal Register language and intent should be directed to your Regional Biomass Coordinator.
Larry Swan, Forest Service, lswan01@fs.fed.us, (707) 562-8917 is the Forest Service Region 5 (CA, HI, Guam, and Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands) coordinator.
Click Here for the 2015 Wood Innovations Funding Opportunity Register Announcement.
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Posted on
Tuesday, October 28, 2014 at
9:30 AM
2:00-3:00 PM PDT, Tuesday June 3, 2014
Connection Information:
Join us Online:
http://uc-d.adobeconnect.com/districtheating/
or by Phone:
Canada & US Toll Free: (866) 740-1260
Toll Number: (303) 248-0285
Access Code: 6653518
Background
The UC Woody Biomass Group will be hosting a webinar presentation on Tuesday, June 3 2014, by Dr. Ouafik El Kasmioui from the University of Antwerp. Dr. Kasmioui will cover status of district heating in Flanders, an assessment of the techno-economic feasibility of district heating projects, and introduce some regional case-studies.
About the Presenter
Dr. Ouafik Kasmioui is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp. He is currently working on the techno-economic feasibility of decentralized biomass conversion technologies with regards to each step of the process chain from the biomass resource to consumer energy delivery. His research interests include biomass conversion and biomass supply from a technical, environmental (LCA) and economic viewpoint; and the impact of (renewable energy) policy measures. Dr Kasimioui has also worked on the economic feasibility of different biomass conversion technologies and the financial, energetic and ecological feasibility of short rotation woody crops for electricity and heat with data gained from an operational SRC plantation that was established within the framework of a larger EU-funded project (POPFULL, http://webh01.ua.ac.be/popfull/).
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Posted on
Thursday, May 29, 2014 at
1:59 PM