Sawmill Near Eugene to Build Woody Biomass Plant

Sawmill to build plant to generate electricity
Seneca Sawmill will begin construction of a wood-fired cogeneration plant in the fall
By Diane Dietz – The Register-Guard – January 27, 2009

In a bold move, the Seneca Sawmill Co. of Eugene is building a $45 million wood-fired power plant that will generate enough electricity to light up 13,000 houses.

Construction will begin in October 2009 and the so-called cogeneration plant will come on line a year later — under the watch of Jody Jones, managing partner in the business started by her father, Aaron, 56 years ago.

Her decision to build created a stir in an industry that’s doing little more than quietly licking its recession-caused wounds.

“Wow, somebody’s actually going to start construction, huh?” said Diana Enright, assistant director of the Oregon Energy Department, who oversees renewable energy.

The company can go ahead because it has a strong balance sheet resting on its founder’s conservative philosophy — be prepared to survive the worst of times and the good times will take care of themselves, sawmill general manager Richard Re said.

The proposed 18.8-megawatt cogeneration plant is expected to produce more than twice the electricity needed to power all three milling operations at Seneca’s plant along Highway 99 near the Airport Road intersection — leaving plenty to sell at a profit to a local or regional utility.

Central Oregon Irrigation District Juniper Ridge Hydropower Solicitation

Irrigation canals in Central Oregon are now being looked at as more than just a way to distribute water from the Deschutes River to farmers and ranchers.  Now days, with energy costs rising and the desirability or renewable energy sources, the power of water rushing through the canals is looked at as a source of power and revenue.  The Swalley Irrigation District may have a 1 MW plant on line by April 2009, and Central Oregon Irrigation District’s 3.7 MW plant, reported on below,  is looking at May 2010 for completion date. Both irrigation-based hydro power plants will be located north of Bend.

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Open Solicitation Juniper Ridge 3.27 MW Hydropower
January 23, 2008

Summary:

Central Oregon Irrigation District (COID) proposes to install a hydropower project totaling 3.27 megawatts (MW) approximately seven miles north of downtown Bend. The project is expected to be completed in May, 2010. 

Solar Energy Doesn’t Need “Feeding” but Woody Biomass Does

Although woody biomass appears on the surface to be an excellent renewable energy source it, like all energy sources, has its drawbacks.  As excerpts from an Oregon Public Broadcasting report below describes, energy generated from woody biomass requires feeding the plant with wood that is burned to produce energy while the fuel for solar is, for all intents and purposes, unlimited and without the potential negative consequences of burning wood to produce energy.

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Central Oregon Sees Wood-Based Biofuels In Mixed Light
Ethan Lindsey – OPB News – January 17, 2008

Wood was probably mankind’s first energy source.

Now, some timber businesses see wood as a renewable source of energy that could give Oregon, and the Pacific Northwest, the kind of economic clout the oil-rich gulf states now have.

That future is a long way off.

Burning wood for energy simply isn’t financially worthwhile right now.

Nor is burning the wood hot enough to produce more profitable oil or biofuel.

But that hasn’t stopped the government, and other interest groups, from exploring the new business potential of what they call ‘woody biomass.’

Cal Mukumoto is the manager of Warm Springs Biomass, a subsidiary of the timber company owned by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

Cal Mukumoto: “It’ll be a while before this is a real good replacement.”

The Warm Springs tribe received a $250,000 grant from the federal government to develop a woody biomass power plant.

And Mukumoto, along with most companies thinking about biomass power, say they hope to build new plants in balance with the environment.

Cal Mukumoto: “That’s one of the reasons the Warm Springs tribe sized this plant a little smaller than what the supply said. We didn’t want this biomass plant to start saying ‘feed me’. It says it anyway, but we didn’t want it in a low voice.”

Phil Chang is the biomass program administrator for the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council.

Phil Chang: “Basically we have all this forest thinning activity going on to reduce the risk of wildfire and restore forest ecosystems. And we have this choice between taking all this small woody biomass material, chopping it up into pieces and burning it up in the woods.”

He points out that unlike typical timber factories, woody biomass doesn’t need big, thick trees.

Asante Riverwind, the Sierra Club activist, says scale is why environmentalists aren’t embracing biomass like you might think they would because, although it seems like a green technology, the future could give the biomass business just as much financial clout as the rest of the timber industry at the expense of truly renewable energy.

Asante Riverwind: “Our biggest concern, among many, is that a lot of money and expenditures go into creating a biomass plant. So they have a big appetite. And what happens ten, twenty years done the line? Are we creating something similar to the mills around here, an insatiable appetite that’s going to be fed at a significantly harmful cost to the environment.”

Bend Bus Stop Shelters Poised for Solar Treatment

 

According to The Bulletin . . . .The arched roof and buttressed red walls of the crane shed may again grace Bend’s Old Mill District with six new bus shelters on Bond Street commemorating the historic building. The original crane shed was used to store lumber during Bend’s mill days and was one of the last vestiges of the community’s timber-fueled past. The city has since decided to build bus shelters to preserve the memory of the now demolished crane shed.

The chosen design is the “most literal interpretation” of the submitted proposals for bus stops reminiscent of the historic building. The bus shelters will include benches, solar-powered lighting and transparent wall panels to provide protection from the elements, according to the design proposal.

If Schnectady, NY why not Bend, OR?

 

Even in the winter, the sun warms the panels, helping a light snow to melt and slide off the panels. When we have a heavy snowfall, we use a “roof rake” to gently pull the snow off of the roof.  Visit: Our Photovoltaic System

Solar panels need sunshine to generate power whether located in Schnectady, NY or Bend, OR. With shorter daylight hours and a lower sun angle in winter, solar panels produce proportionately less power. In cloudy weather, solar modules work, although they produce less electricity than on a sunny day. Under a light overcast, the modules might produce about half as much as under full sun, ranging down to as little as five to ten percent under a dark overcast day.

While some sun does make it through several inches of snow, little electricity is generated when the panels are covered with anything. If the modules become covered with snow, they stop producing power, but snow generally melts quickly when the sun strikes the modules; if you brush the snow off, they resume operation immediately.

During Central Oregon winters snow can form on PV panels. However, since photovoltaic panels are dark colored they generate a small amount of surface heat because of their dark color so snow usually slides off their tempered glass covering or melts very quickly.

With Bend and much of Central Oregon currently blanketed with a covering of snow – including existing PV panels -  it begs the question: if folks can put up photovoltaic panels in upstate New York north of Schnectady and south of Adirondack Park where annual solar radiation is much less than Central Oregon, why not much more solar PV here?