Mariposa Biomass Project News Archive
Recent news about our project will be posted on our home page and then moved to this page when it is no longer current.
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Biomass Utilization, Energy, Air Pollution and Climate Change
Biomass in our forest can have many fates ranging from being burned in a wildfire to helping create clean green energy and reversing climate change. Not all ways of using or disposing of biomass are created equal. Methods that release the carbon in forest biomass as carbon dioxide (CO2) exacerbate climate change at a time we need to reduce carbon emissions. Biomass left to decay in the forest releases much of the carbon as methane (CH4) a short-term greenhouse gas that is 105 times more warming than carbon dioxide while it is in the atmosphere (10.5 year half life). Forest fires release carbon as both carbon dioxide and black carbon (soot) that also contributes considerably more short-term warming than carbon dioxide.
The table below ranks various biomass disposal techniques in terms of air pollution, i.e. particulates and NOx and carbon released to atmosphere. In dealing with the current tree mortality problem, for the sake of public safety, we need to use every technique below, other than forest fires, or course. Over time we should try to move to techniques lower in the chart that derive value from the biomass, and have the potential reverse climate change rather than exacerbate it. Energy derived from dead trees replaces energy derived from fossil fuel sources, thus helping mitigate climate change. This should be differentiated from cutting down living trees to produce pellets, biofuels or electicity, a questionable practice at best, from a climate change point of view.
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May 2019 update
The Mariposa Biomass project has recently received several pieces of encouraging news:
Wood Innovation Grant: The Mariposa Biomass Project was successful in receiving a $250,000 Wood Innovations Grant from the US Forest Service. These funds will be used to complete remaining permitting and pre-construction work for a group of four small-scale community biomass plants throughout the Sierra.
PG&E and the BioMAT program: Although PG&E is still in bankruptcy, they are again participating in the BioMAT program, honoring existing Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), and it is again possible for new projects to enter the BioMAT queue and obtain PPAs. Cortus Energy has indicated that they will have the funds for our project to enter the BioMAT queue in July. This in an important step for our project in terms of fulfilling a milestone in our EPIC grant with the California Energy Commission. It is also key to assuring potential investors of a reliable 20-year revenue stream at a favorable price.
Update on Current Status
The Mariposa Biomass Project is moving forward, but for the last several months has been in a “holding pattern” based on two issues, delays in the construction of the first plant in Sweden and the PG&E bankruptcy
Delays in the Swedish WoodRoll® Plant The first issue is that our technology provider, Cortus Energy is building the first WoodRoll® biomass plant in Höganäs Sweden and construction and operation of that plant is currently about six months behind schedule. Successful operation of the Hoganas propject is a prerequisite to financing of the Mariposa project. The Höganäs plant will process woody biomass to produce a synthetic gas or syngas that will replace the use of natural gas or methane in a steel mill for Höganäs AB in Sweden. According to Cortus, the six-month delay was caused by engineering changes and subsequent late deliveries of piping to the site.
PG&E Bankruptcy The second factor that has our project in this holding pattern is the bankruptcy declaration by PG&E. The financial basis of our project is based on selling the electricity we produce to PG&E at a favorable rate, as mandated by State law, S.B. 1122 and the BioMAT program. We are confident that when this bankruptcy is resolved the utility will be bound by the same law to purchace the electricity we produce via a Power Purchase Agreement or PPA. However, until the situation is resolved no new contracts or PPAs are being signed by PG&E, thus the need to wait until this situation is resolved.
Once the Höganäs plant is operational and the PG&E bankruptcy is resolved, we should be able to move quickly. In the meantime, we are working closely with the California Energy Commission to assure that we don’t spend our EPIC grant funds on equipment while the above issues are unresolved.
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Conditional Use Permit Appeal Rejected by Board of Supervisors.
An appeal of our Conditional Use Permit was heard before the Board of Supervisors on July 10, with the meeting continued to July 17th. On the 17th, the Mariposa Board of Supervisors voted, 3-1 (1 recused) to reject the appeal and uphold the decision of the Planning Department and Planning Commission to approve our project.
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A brief history of the BioMAT program and the Mariposa Biomass Project
If you think that small-scale biomass plants used to turn sustainably harvested forest biomass into electricity are controversial, or increase air pollution, you may not know that the State Senate bill, S.B. 1122 that incentivized these projects passed the State Senate 38-0 and that every air pollution district in the state encourages these biomass plants as they reduce air pollution. Learn more here: A brief history of the BioMAT program and the Mariposa Biomass Project
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FAQ responding to incorrect and misleading information about the Mariposa Bioenergy Plant.
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June 2018 Update from CEO Jay Johnson: Current information about the status of the project is available here.
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$5M EPIC Grant Final Approval: On March 21st the Mariposa County Resource Conservation District and the Mariposa Biomass Project attended a meeting of the Board of Governors of the California Energy Commission. The first regular agenda item for the meeting was the formal approval of the $5 million EPIC grant to support the construction of a biomass-to-energy plant here in Mariposa County. The Governors approved the item 4:0 and said that they were please to fund such a fine project that would help mitigate the tree mortality disaster in the Sierra.
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The Mariposa County Planning Commission approved the Mariposa Biomass Project Conditional Use Permit on February 23rd!
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County Use Permit and CEQA Review: The Mariposa Biomass Project submitted our County Use Permit application in June of 2017. As part of that application and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review, we have conducted various cultural, biological, botanical, noise and traffic studies. An extract of those studies as well as other information on how our proposed biomass facility will affect the community can be found here.
In the subsequent months, the County Planning Department has asked for a number of additional studies in support of our permit application. Digital copies were sent to County as they became available. On December 19th, we submitted a paper copy of all of the studies to the County in a binder. With the draft CEQA Checklist written by the Mariposa Biomass Project team and our attorney Christiana Darlington, the paper submission was 580 pages. The Table of Contents is shown above. Digital copies of all submissions are available on the Planning Department website here.
The Planning Department has informed us that our project will go before the regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting on the February 23rd in the Board of Supervisors chambers. We would appreciate it if all those that support our project plan to be at the meeting to express their views on the project and its benefits to our community.
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Progress Report: Here is a link to our July-September 2017 Progress Report
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EPIC News! We have just been notified that we have received a $5 million EPIC grant for a demonstration biomass-to-energy project in Mariposa County. Here is a PDF document announcing the award. Not only that, we received the top score! Together with the $11 million in matching funds from our technology partner, Cortus Energy, we can now move forward on our project to restore forest health, pay for the removal of dead trees from around homes and public infrastructure and diversify our local economy with good, high paying jobs. Read the press release here. Next step: Use permit from the County including CEQA review and the PG&E System Interconnect Study.
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Progress Report:Here is a link to our April-June 2017 progress report.
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Tree Mortality Presentation: On March 16th we presented our project the the Mariposa County Tree Mortality Disaster Mitigation Committee which included an animated video of the proposed Cortus WoodRoll facility and some preliminary site and grading plans. Here is a presentation with some of the new material that we presented there, including the animated video.
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March 23rd Update: MBP continues to make substantial progress in developing this project. The application for a Conditinal Use Permit will be filed next week (the week of March 26th). The environmental assessment of the site is underway and engineers have been lined up to complete noise and traffic studies should they be required as part of the application. An engineering firm has been selected to complete the Electrical Inteconnect Application and MBP is expecting that application to be filed in early April.
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Progress Report: Here is a link to our February 2017 progress report.
On June 15th we gave a presentation to the Mariposa County Master Gardeners. We have now updated that presentation to include the results of our noise study we received after that presentation. This updated presentation can be found here.
Our April - June 2017 Progress Report for the U.S. Forest Service in support of our Wood Innovations Grant can be found here.
Here is a link to our January 2017 progress report.
Here is an link to the progress report we recently filed with the U.S. Forest Service in regards to progress we have made on our Wood Innovation Grant in 2016.
Close of Escrow: On January 12th, 2017, the Mariposa Biomass Project closed escrow on two parcels in the Mariposa Industrial Park, near the Mariposa County Solid Waste Facility and PG&E substation.
Our next meeting is at noon on Tuesday, January 17th in the meeting room at Offline Solar.
As of early December 2016, there is quite a bit of news about the Mariposa Biomass Project.
Our EPIC Grant Phase 2 application was submitted on December 21 thanks to the excellent teamwork between the Mariposa County Resource Conservation District, the Mariposa Biomass Project, Cortus Energy and Gladstein, Neandross and Associates who helped write and submit the Phase 2 application.
EPIC Grant: On September 6th, the Mariposa Biomass Project submitted an application to the California Energy Commission for a $5 million EPIC grant in support of establishing a demonstration biomass facility here in Mariposa County. On November 1, we were informed that we had passed Phase 1 and were therefore qualified to apply for Phase 2, which we are now in the process of doing with our technology partner Cortus Energy. The Phase 2 EPIC grant application is due on December 21st, 2016, and Cortus has hired a professional grant writer to assist in applying for Phase 2.
Cortus Energy: The Mariposa Biomass Project is in the final stages of signing an agreement with Cortus Energy http://www.cortus.se/about.html as our technology partner in developing a demonstration biomass facility in Mariposa County that will turn our excess and dead vegetation into clean renewable energy. To accomplish this Cortus Energy will establish a California based corporation and likely partner with another California corporation (to be determined) to build, own and operate the facility.
Site Control: One of the critical steps moving forward is the purchase or control of a site on which to build the biomass facility. As the 7.6 acre County owned property was not available to us, we have been pursuing the purchase or options on one or more parcels in the Mariposa (Bandini) Industrial Park located near the landfill and PG&E substation. We have now reached an agreement with a landowner to purchase one parcel outright and have an option to purchase a second adjacent parcel. We have raised the necessary funds to secure these parcels locally.
Site control is critical to passing the Phase 2 requirements of the EPIC grant and also to start the process of obtaining the necessary permits from the County. The County permitting process, as well as the PG&E interconnect study will be paid for with funds from the $244,080 Wood Innovation grant we received last May.
The October 8th Meeting of the Mariposa Democratic Club will feature an update on the biomass project. The meeting starts at 9:45 a.m. at Miner’s Roadhouse; or at 9:00 am if you want to purchase breakfast first. A web-based version of the presentation is available here.
August 2 Board of Supervisors Meeting: Our biomass project suffered a setback on August 2nd when the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors declined to instruct staff to start the process of offering the 7.6-acres the project wishes to have an option to acquire via either sale or lease. The decision came down to whether the 7.6 county-owned acres could be declared “surplus” and therefore put up for sale via a public offering process. Details here and here.
August 2nd Board of Supervisors Meeting The continuing discussion of the possible purchase (or lease) of 7.6 acres by our biomass project is on the agenda the August 2nd Board of Supervisors meeting. It is the second regular agenda item in the morning session. Please show up and express your support for our project.
Minutes are now available from our July 27th Meeting.
Biomass at Yosemite-Mariposa Integrated Regional Water Management Meeting
On July 14th, Steve and Jay talked about our project and our proposed land purchace/lease from the County. Click here to view that talk.
Meeting on July 13, 9:30 AM in the Offline Solar meeting room behind Pony Espresso. We will be discussing our strategy for the upcoming Mariposa County Board of Supervisors meeting on July 19th where our proposal for land acquisition will be discussed. You can read about that proposal here, and the outcome, here.
Minutes are now available from our June 22 Meeting. Agenda included:
1. Site Control: Review latest proposed path forward to secure the 7 acre site adjacent to the landfill and the need to sub divide this property.
2. Wood Innovations Grant: Now that we received the Wood Innovations Grant we need to discuss the next steps with regard to permitting this facility.
3. EPIC Grant: Provide an update on the grant we need to secure the funding necessary for financing the project.
4. PG&E Interconnect Cost: Changes being proposed by the state legislature
5. Possible discussion with Tom Hobby who is with Highbury Energy, a Canadian based biomass gasification system provider.
May 2016
Mariposa Biomass Project
Awarded
USDA Forest Service
2016 USFS Wood Innovations Grant
(Mariposa, Calif.) – The Mariposa Biomass Project (MBP), a 501(c)3 corporation, has been awarded a USDA U.S. Forest Service 2016 Wood Innovations grant in the amount of $244,080 to use wood residues primarily from forests for electricity production. This will be accomplished by constructing a biomass power plant in Mariposa. The grant funds will be used to finalize site selection, secure an option to lease or purchase the property from the County of Mariposa, negotiate an agreement with a developer, complete permitting and studies necessary for the financing and construction of the facility and complete the PG&E System Impact Study.
The biomass power plant will have a capacity of ~2 MW to take advantage of California legislation (SB 1122) now titled BioMAT (Biomass Market Adjusting Tariff) that supports renewal biomass energy. At anticipated rates, this will provide the project with approximately $2 million to $2.5 million dollars of annual revenue, thus supporting not only local high paying jobs, but improving public safety and health.
The small community-based facility will utilize approximately 16,000 BDT of biomass per year from a 50-mile radius feedstock sourcing area, with 80% from eligible parts of the Stanislaus National Forest, Sierra National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management and other public and private forest lands according to a fuel availability study completed in August, 2015 by TSS Consultants. Forest-sourced biomass will come primarily from areas designated as high fire hazard. As a result of the current tree mortality disaster, where Mariposa County is ground zero, for the foreseeable future the feedstock will consist primarily of dead trees removed from around public infrastructure and homes. Long term, it is expected that the project will generate at least 10-20 jobs, some of which would be for facility operation and the rest from jobs required to process and transport biomass to the facility.. The project will reduce wildfire risk, increase public safety, improve forest health, and reduce the cost of forest management, while increasing the health and economic diversity of the surrounding community
The goals of the MBP are in line with the goals of the Wood Innovations Program:
- Reduce the excess forest and vegetation to reduce the danger of wildfire, improve forest health and water quality, and contribute to the economic and environmental health of Mariposa County.
- Reduce the cost of forest management by constructing a facility that can pay for the cost to remove waste material from the forests through the sale of electricity and biochar.
- Promote economic and environmental health within the community by providing jobs and disposing of the forest waste material in an environmentally acceptable manner.
The project will be managed and directed by a team of experienced professionals from the Mariposa Biomass Project. The Mariposa County Resource Conservation District will act as fiscal agent and grant administrator.
The Wood Innovations Grant program by the U.S. Forest Service is a national competition for funds and the fact that our proposed project is receiving funding is a good indication that our program is not only valuable locally, but is recognized as having wider value to the innovative utilization of forest-based products. We are therefore deeply honored to have been selected to receive this grant. For the U.S. Forest Service press release on this grant program click here. For a list of all recipients click here.
Great News! On October 30th, the Governor declared a State of Emergency relative to Tree Mortality in the Sierra and asked Secretary Vilsack for federal funds to help with mitigation and recovery efforts. The Governor has also issued a proclamation that orders state agencies to help in a wide variety of ways. Given the points contained in the proclamation, there is little doubt that biomass facilities will play an important role going forward. The Governor has also ordered the formation of a task force headed by the Directors of CalFIRE and the Office of Emergency Services to guide how the proclamation is implemented. For more information click here.
Our next meeting will be on October 28th at 9:30 AM at the conference room at Offline Solar behind Pony Expresso. There are several new developments that we will no doubt be discussing at this meeting.
1. Jay and Steve were invited to participate in a County’s Development Review Committee meeting to discuss the potential log deck at the Bear Valley site. We submitted a drawing of what we think would be appropriate and in return the Planning Department generated a very helpful list of all the permits and other requirements that are likely needed in order to proceed. We are working with CalFIRE, and the various County Departments to find a path forward.
2. Mariposa County and other Mother-Lode Counties have declared a State of Emergency relative to the Tree Mortality problem that the Central and Southern Sierra are currently facing. Mariposa County Supervisor Rosemarie Smallcombe continues her work with the County, various State-wide agencies and the Governor’s office to promote funding, expertise and interagency cooperation in dealing with this problem as can be seen here. There is a possibility that funding for the log deck and/or perhaps the biomass facility might become available through these efforts.
3. We submitted a Rule 21 Pre-application Report Request to PG&E to see if the Bear Valley site might be a practical location for the biomass facility in terms of the costs necessary to connect and supply 2 MW into the PG&E Substation located nearby. PG&E responded positively and indicated that both the substation and the distribution line running across the Bear Valley site were both designed to handle 12 MW, but were currently only handling 2 MW. They indicated that we could feed our 2 MW power onto the existing line at a power pole near where the biomass plant might be located, thus making this site as low a cost site as likely possible from a PG&E hookup point of view.
4. We earlier reported that the Mariposa Biomass Project was collaborating with U.C. Merced Professor Gerardo Diaz and the Mariposa Public Utility District (MPUD) on turning biochar from forest biomass into activated carbon suitable for water treatment plants. This work has been proceeding slowly largely because of lack of funding. We are pleased to announce the Prof. Diaz has received a grant from the USDA for this work and he can now buy equipment and assign a graduate student to this study for up to three years. The Mariposa Biomass Project will be responsible for designing and implementing the activated carbon testing procedures with the help of MPUD and the water quality testing equipment located there.
Mariposa Rotary On July 30th, Steve Smallcombe and Jay Johnson talked to the Mariposa Rotary about the biomass project and answered their many questions. The presentation was very similar to the presentation to the Mariposa Board of Supervisors available below.
An article on the talk recently appeared in the Mariposa Gazette.
Mariposa Board of Supervisors The Mariposa Biomass Project gave a presentation to (available here) the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday June 16th. Although this presentation was listed as an update, we gave an overview the project as a whole, as well as a review of our current status.
This update was given to let the Supervisors know that the Mariposa Firesafe Council has agreed to fund and administer the grant monies for our fuel availability study and that that study is underway.
The Watershed Research and Training Center (SWET) is also applying for a USDA Rural Business Development Grant on our behalf so that we might continue our work and we received a letter of support from the Board for that grant.
Good news!!
On June 3rd, 2015, the Mariposa Firesafe Council and Mariposa Biomass Project team members met with Tad Mason of TSS Consultants to sign a service agreement for TSS Consultants to provide our project's Fuel Availability Study (pdf of Scope of Work available here). The study will be complete by the end of August.
The Mariposa Biomass Project very much appreciates the Firesafe Council's willingness to both fund and administer the grant monies that will be used to pay for this study. It was clear to everyone who attended the meeting that Tad and TSS had the necessary expertise and experience to perform this work quickly and in a professional manner, and that TSS was also pleased to be working with us. We therefore look forward to a constructive relationship between TSS, the Firesafe Council and the Mariposa Biomass Project.
Mariposa Biomass Fuel Availability Study Complete
The fuel availability study for the Mariposa Biomass Project is now complete and the good news is that we have enough technically and economically available fuel to support a 2 MW biomass plant. The fuel availability study, available here, was conducted by TSS Consultants and paid for by the Mariposa Firesafe Council.
Now that that the fuel availability study confirms that we have enough fuel to make the project viable, the project is at an interesting crossroads for several reasons. Until recently, we had planned on the next step being a full economic feasibility study that would take into consideration all costs and income sources to assure that the project would be economically sound. If this is the next step, we would need a grant to pay for that study, likely $40,000-$50,000. TSS Consultants could conduct that study. We however likely already know what that study would tell us and that is that we need an established market for biochar to assure long term profitability. Right now we have been assured by TSS and others that biochar is selling well, largely as an agricultural supplement for high value crops, and at a price that would meet our needs. However, we would like to see a broader biochar market established that would hopefully include conversion of biochar to activated carbon and the assignment of cap and trade monies to reward biochar producers for sequestering carbon. We have been speaking with statewide agencies in an effort to move these things forward. But can we afford to wait for these things to happen given the current urgent tree mortality/fire safety issues now facing the Sierra?
Given the current tree mortality problems in the Sierra, we have been strongly encouraged to skip the full economic feasibility study and move more quickly to full implementation of the the project, perhaps working with a developer to finance the construction and operation of the biomass plant. In particular, right now there are many bug kill trees being removed by PG&E and the Firesafe Council and they need a place to put those logs, such as a log deck, a term used to describe the placement of 40 ft logs, stacked in rows approximately 10 feet high, for future use by a saw mill, biomass facility, etc. If we could establish a log deck to store those logs until our biomass plant was up and running this would not only help current efforts to promote fire safety, but would provide our future operation with very low cost fuel. CalFire is also strongly behind the idea of a local log deck to handle all the bug kill trees that are currently being removed from our forests.
The possibility of a log deck has accelerated our interaction with the County and we have had several discussions now with County Planning and Public Works about locating such a log deck, and presumably the biomass facility on County owned land. Current thinking is that while we can likely plan on locating our facility on the newly acquired County owned 7-acre parcel adjacent to the landfill and PG&E substation, the current permit for landfill operation would prohibit us from sharing road access to that area with the landfill operation. This greatly complicates the short-term use of that 7-acres as it is unlikely that new access roads could be developed in the timely manner required by the need for a log deck. However permits can be changed and likely will be when the landfill decides later this year about its longer-term plans for use of that facility.
The County has suggested that we also consider a 30-acre parcel in Bear Valley that might be more appropriate for use as a log deck in the short-term and potentially for the biomass facility itself. The parcel in question is an abandoned landfill and is located 0.3 miles from a PG&E substation. We are currently examining whether this substation could accept the 2 MW of power that we will likely generate when the biomass plant is in full operation. In any case, road access to that parcel appears to be simpler than at the current landfill. Stay tuned.
Meeting on May 27th
On May 27th the Mariposa Biomass Project met at the home of Rosemarie and Steve Smallcombe, and then visited the forest thinning activities at the property owned by their neighbor Russ Bockhop. In the photo above Neal Bolton (Blue Ridge Service) is describing the work done by his crew.
It is easy to see the results of the thinning operation in the before and after images below.
Biomass Talk at Symposium
Steve Smallcombe gave a talk about biomass and the Mariposa Biomass Project on May 20 at the "Healthy People in Mariposa County's Changing Climate" symposium organized by our County Health Officer, Dr. Robin Ryder.
Here is an important article about biochar in Nature. Nature is one the two most respected and widely read scientific journals (the other is Science) so this realistic discussion of biochar and its applications to agriculture and pollution control should significantly increase its visibility in the scientific world.
We added two questions to the FAQ about the markets for biochar and the potential use for local wastewater filtration/purification needs, and another about recent news reports about biomass plants being forced to close.
Incorporation
The Mariposa Biomass Project is incorporated as public benefit corporation in the State of California and has been granted nonprofit 501 (c) (3) status by the IRS and the Franchise Tax Board so that we can pursue grants.
Our corporate officers are:
Chief Executive Officer: Jay Johnson
Secretary: George Catlin
Treasurer: Suzette Prue
Our current Directors are: Barry Brouillette and Steve Smallcombe
Jay Johnson, our CEO, is an engineer who has considerable experience in the design and construction of biomass plants.
You can contact the Mariposa Biomass Project at admin@mariposabiomassproject.org
Rosemarie Smallcombe, is stepping back from her role as the project's chief facilitator as she assumes her responsibilities as District 1 Supervisor for Mariposa County.
Biomass Talk at the Midpines Planning Advisory Committee: Steve Smallcombe gave a talk on the project at a Midpines Planning Advisory Committee meeting on December 13th. The slides from that talk are available here. The subtitle of the talk was "It's Not Your Father's Biomass" as we have found it necessary to differentiate our project from the biomass plants built in California during the 80s and 90s. Those plants were based on burning biomass to produce what was supposed to be clean, green electricity. However for a number of reasons, including air pollution, these biomass plants fell out of favor with both the public and environmentalists, as explained in the FAQ. The biomass plant we are proposing is not based on combustion or burning the biomass, but rather uses pyrolysis to generate electricity and biochar, a form of charcoal that can sold commercially, and at the same time, provides a practical mechanism of sequestering carbon rather than releasing it to the atmosphere. Steve and/or Jay are willing to give similar talks in the future to other interested groups.
The Mariposa Firesafe Council Will Fund Fuel Availability Study
The Mariposa Firesafe Council and their granting agency, the USDA, has agreed to fund a fuel availability study and will administer the grant. The fuel availability study, which will identify the potential fuel available on a sustainable basis and the cost of extraction, is an important step in determining the economic feasibility of the proposed biomass project. We had previously approached the Mariposa County Resource Conservation District about serving as a fiscal agent for such a study, but the Firesafe Council's generous offer to fund and administer the grant for the study is too good to pass up! We look forward to working with the Resource Conservation District and the Firesafe Council as the project moves forward.
We now have a FAQ page that presents information about the Mariposa Biomass Project. This FAQ combines the information in the White Paper and Slideshow in a more easily readable form.
Tour of the Phoenix Energy Biomass/Biochar Facility in Merced
The Mariposa Biomass Project group, and others interested in the project, had a tour of the Phoenix Energy Biomass/Biochar facility in Merced on June 23rd. In background of this picture you can see the gasification reactor where pyrolysis (heating in the absence of oxygen) converts woody biomass to syngas and biochar.
The owner of Phoenix Energy, Greg Stangl gave the tour, explained the technology and the changes they have made in subsequent and planned installations, difficulties in connecting with PG&E, financing options, as well as answering questions from tour participants. In the background of this picture you can see the enclosure where a generator is housed to burn the syngas to produce electricity that is sold to PG&E. Greg also explained that there is high demand for biochar as an agricultural soil supplement, and the currently biochar is responsible for 40% of the facility's revenue.
Biomass Talk at the Mariposa Democratic Club: Project leaders, Steve and Rosemarie Smallcombe, gave a talk on the project at the Mariposa Democratic Club Meeting on June 14th, 2014. The event was taped by the Sierra Sun Times and the audio of that talk was combined with the slides by the Sierra Sun Times at the following link.
Overview: The Mariposa Biomass Project formed as the convergence of efforts by two groups. One, a citizens group tentatively named Mariposa Forward, which is interested in promoting renewable energy in Mariposa County and how its use can lower residential, business, and government energy costs, make our energy supply more reliable and secure, and enhance and diversify the Mariposa County’s economy. The second group is interested in promoting forest thinning for fire safely and forest health. The idea of the combined effort was to provide economic value to the small-diameter forest products, or slash, that result from forest clearing efforts while avoiding some of the health and climate change concerns associated with burning that slash in the forest, all while attracting new industry to the County and diversifying our economy.
We are working with the the Statewide Wood Energy Team and have received a grant for a Pre-feasibility Opportunity Scan to assure this project make economic sense before proceeding. Having passed that hurdle, we are now working on a review by PG&E of the project and our intent to sell them excess energy, and on obtaining funding for a fuel availability study.
Use the tabs on the left to read a white paper written to help the group define and understand its goals and objectives, or view a slideshow explaining the project (updated 6/14/2014 after the presentation at the Mariposa Democratic Club Meeting).
