Maine biomass commission first meeting

A special commission formed by the Maine Legislature to study the economic, environmental and energy benefits of the state's biomass industry holds its first meeting this week.

The Maine State House, where the 2016 biomass resolve was enacted.

This spring, the Maine legislature enacted a resolve establishing the Commission to Study the Economic, Environmental and Energy Benefits of the Maine Biomass Industry. Known as Resolve 2015, chapter 85, the legislation established a study commission to examine the state's biomass energy resources, as well as public policy and economic proposals to create and maintain a sustainable future for the industry.

The Commission to Study the Economic, Environmental and Energy Benefits of the Maine Biomass Industry holds its first meeting tomorrow.  According to the agenda published for the first meeting, following introductions and a review of the resolve itself, the group will hear presentations from and hold discussion with a variety of people interested in biomass.  Presenters on the agenda include a Commissioner of the Maine Public Utilities Commission, the state's Public Advocate, and the executive director of the Efficiency Maine Trust.  Other speakers represent loggers, the wood pellet fuel industry, users of biomass energy fuels, the pulp and paper industry, and woodlot owners.  The agenda states that the meeting will also include a public comment period.

According to the agenda, possible future meeting dates for the Maine biomass commission include August 16 and August 30, 2016.

March 10, 2010

Yarmouth, Maine, is considering an alternative energy source to power its wastewater treatment plant: hydrogen gas, created through technology proposed by Ronny Bar-Gadda, founder and chief executive officer of Genesys LLC. The Portland Press Herald provides a description:

He has developed a proprietary technology called radiant energy transfer. It uses electromagnetic radiation to break the hydrogen-oxygen bond at certain frequencies. The process was demonstrated last fall in the lab by filling a balloon with hydrogen made from wastewater. The radiant energy transfer unit, as Bar-Gadda calls it, can be scaled up in modules, uses minimal energy and produces hydrogen at a rapid rate.

From the physics and thermodynamics perspectives, I am very interested to see how this plays out.

Strong, Maine pellet producer Geneva Wood Fuels has been fined $27,000 by OSHA for violations ranging from missing handrails to potential problems with wood dust management -- and it's wood dust that may have been behind the explosion at the plant last year.

China has announced that it is back on track to meet its target of lowering energy intensity -- which is energy consumption per unit of GDP -- by 20% over 2006 levels by year's end. How? Government control. The Chinese government shuttered 60 gigawatts of older, inefficient thermal electricity units, and cracked down on manufacturers of iron, steel and cement.

It's CERAWeek in Houston, and apparently traditional fossil-fuel generators are laughing at the federal government's promotion of renewables. CERAWeek is the big conference sponsored by energy consultants IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration says we'll pay more than $3 per gallon of gasoline in summer 2010. EIA also predicts oil prices rising from above $80 per barrel this spring to $82 per barrel by the end of 2009 and $85 per barrel by the end of 2011. EIA also predicts flat residential electricity prices: 11.5 cents per kilowatthour for this year, rising to 11.6 cents per kilowatthour in 2011.

Letter to the Editor of the Bangor Daily News from David Gordon of Oakfield talking about his town's approach to ensuring that wind development within the town provides benefits to ratepayers. Well written David.

2/17/10

More information on the DOE nuclear loan guarantees: the US will guarantee $8.3 billion of the $14 billion Plant Vogtle development spearheaded by the Southern Company -- and the developers are still saying they are exposed to risks from private financing for the rest. DOE is reportedly looking at three more sites: Unistar's third reactor at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland; a troubled San Antonio, Texas project, facing rising cost estimates and a lawsuit filed by San Antonio's municipal utility against its partner in the project, NRG; and the joint Scana Corporation and Santee Cooper proposal near Jenkinsville, S.C.

An interesting take by Michael Northrup: there is a clean energy gold rush, but the US is being left behind. We have only one out of the top 10 wind manufacturers (General Electric) and only two of the top 10 solar manufacturers (First Solar and Sun Power, both of whom actually make stuff overseas). An interesting tie to Habib Dagher's vision that the opportunities for renewables lie not only in having installed capacity, but in manufacturing the equipment needed for development. Under this model, your production is not limited by your local demand, but rather the global market -- meaning we can import dollars into the country (or our states) from abroad, resulting in a net increase of the pie.

Solar news: NV Energy and NextLight Renewable Power, LLC announced a 25-year power purchase agreement for power from NextLight's Silver State Solar Power photovoltaic plant. This 50 MW project located near Primm, NV should see groundbreak by the end of 2010, employing 230 construction workers and coming online in May 2011. The specific terms of the power purchase agreement were not disclosed, but we do know that the long-term agreement stems from NV Energy's 2009 Request for Proposals for renewable energy and requires approval by Nevada's Public Utilities Commission.

In Maryland, some are pushing for property-assessed energy efficiency loans, and increased incentives for solar. Maine faces a similar proposal in the form of LD 1717.

In Connecticut, U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd calls for rebuilding the Kleen Energy plant that recently exploded while under construction.

$14 million in stimulus grants to Maine ports (Searsport, Eastport, Portland), stated as supporting "green cargo" like wind turbine parts.

Diesel from algae? DARPA says yes, and that it will be cost-competitive with true fossil fuel.

$9 million loan program to retool the old Ethan Allen furniture factory in Island Pond, Vermont, into a pellet factory.