A building desire for woody biomass and a glut of forest materials has Arkansas set to be a major player in that sector of renewable energy, not just in the Midwest, but around the world. This article from the City Wire, which serves Northwest Arkansas, says the state’s biomass industry got some help this summer by some timely multi-million dollar investments in commercial biomass and by Europe’s desire to use the green fuel.
On July 30, Zilkha Biomass Energy announced plans to build a proprietary black wood pellet manufacturing plant in Monticello that company officials said could be easily integrated into the energy grid as a clean energy alternative to coal-powered electricity.
“Power companies across the globe are looking for renewable energy alternatives and biomass wood pellets stand as one of the most practical and cost-effective solutions,” said Jack Holmes, CEO of Zilkha Biomass Energy. “This plant in Monticello will be one of Zilkha’s largest and will help us capture more of the growing biomass energy market.”
Grant Tennille, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, is one of the state’s biggest cheerleaders for the biomass industry.
Now, Tennille said, Arkansas is poised to become a big player in the biomass sector as the wood pellet market takes off in Europe.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, wood pellet exports from the U.S. nearly doubled last year, from 1.6 million short tons (approximately 22 trillion Btu) in 2012 to 3.2 million short tons in 2013. More than 98% of these exports were delivered to Europe, and 99% originated from ports in the southeastern and lower Mid-Atlantic regions of the country.
Given the fact that the European Commission wants to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels, increase the renewable portion of EU energy consumption by 20 percent, and improve EU energy efficiency by 20 percent, and the large amount of woody biomass Arkansas offers to help meet those goals – an estimated 19.8 billion kilowatts (kwh) of electricity that could be generated using renewable biomass from the state – it’s no wonder the biomass future looks so bright in Arkansas.