Laura Neal
BCS, Incorporated
The U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture, in partnership
with the Sun Grant Initiative universities and the members
of the National Biomass State and Regional Partnership, have
established the Regional Biomass Energy Feedstock Partnership.
The Partnership consists of five separate regions: Southeast,
North Central, South Central, Western, and Northeast. The
over-arching goal of the Partnership is to develop biomass
feedstock resources on a regional basis in order to realize
each region’s potential contribution to the 1.3 billion
ton annual biomass feedstock goal, as identified in the joint
study by Departments of Energy and Agriculture Billion Ton
Study.
In the 2006 State of the Union address, the President acknowledged
the nation’s “addiction to oil”, and announced
the Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI) to address the way we
power our homes, businesses, and automobiles. As part of
the effort to change the way we power our automobiles, the
President called for increased research and development to
make cellulosic ethanol, or ethanol produced from non-grain
feedstocks, cost competitive by the year 2012. In response
to this charge, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Office of the
Biomass Program created the Biofuels Initiative (BFI). In
addition to adopting the President’s 2012 cost goal,
the BFI also includes a volumetric goal to displace 30 percent
of current gasoline consumption with biofuels by 2030.
One important component of successfully achieving the BFI
2030 volumetric goal is to ensure that cost competitive biomass
feedstocks are widely available in sufficient quantity and
at an acceptable market cost. Feedstock costs represent the
single largest cost element in producing a gallon of ethanol.
DOE and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) jointly
released the Billion Ton study in April of 2005 that determined
the United States has the potential to sustainably generate
at least 1.3 billion dry tons of biomass feedstock annually.
These potential resources are available primarily as agricultural
and forest-derived feedstock. The 1.3 billion dry tons of
feedstock identified in the study is enough to produce the
amount of biofuels needed to displace 30 percent of our current
gasoline consumption. The study did not determine where or
at what cost these resources can be collected.
Regionally, a number of factors impact feedstock availability
and cost, such as soil quality, rainfall, climate, land-use
patterns, and competing end-uses in established markets.
Due to this regional variability, it has been determined
that a regional approach would best assess the availability
of biomass resources and any barriers associated with their
collection. This approach would also be the most effective
many stakeholders are involved, from the feedstock producer
to the end-user. As part of the fiscal year 2007 Budget request,
the Biomass Program proposed establishing Regional Biomass
Energy Feedstock Partnerships in order to develop, evaluate,
and deploy reliable biomass-based resources in an environmentally
and economically sustainable manner.
The overall purpose of the Regional Biomass Energy Feedstock
Partnerships is to determine the amount of biomass feedstock
currently available in each region, working toward the sustainable
deployment of the full national biomass resource. This includes
identifying and eliminating the barriers to developing the
resources, as well as developing the full feedstock supply
chain needed for ethanol production. Each region will independently
identify its own technical and economic barriers, and set
specific goals based on those barriers. The end result will
include biorefineries that process a variety of biomass feedstocks
into fuels, power, and products in a way that maximizes the
biomass and economic resources of each region.
The Regional Partnership will quantify a supply cost basis
of the major biomass feedstock in each region; identify research
gaps for developing energy crops and feedstock infrastructure
development issues; and provide a forum at the regional level,
bringing together growers and potential industrial feedstock
users. The Partnership will coalesce members from a variety
of organizations and backgrounds, including feedstock producers
(i.e. farmers, foresters, and related organizations), biomass
conversion experts, land grant university and other academic
researchers, industry representatives, state policy groups,
and Federal government biomass experts.
In 2006, the Regional Partnership held its first of two “kick-off” workshops:
one in the Southeast region, and the other in the North Central
region. The Southeast workshop was held in Knoxville, Tennessee
and hosted by the University of Tennessee – Knoxville.
Technical working groups in the Southeast region included:
Sustainable Agriculture Residues, Sustainable Forestry Resources,
Sustainable Herbaceous Perennial Crop Development, Sustainable
Woody Crop Development, Sustainable Feedstock Resource Economics
and Engineering Analysis, Communication and Information Coordination,
and Policy Development and Analysis. Participants met for
two days and identified the potential biomass feedstock resources
in the region, as well as the barriers to utilizing those
resources for biofuels production, and the efforts currently
under way to reduce those barriers.
The North Central workshop was held in Sioux Falls, South
Dakota and hosted by South Dakota State University. This
regional group added two technical working groups to those
developed at the Southeast workshop to address the needs
of the region: Sustainable Starch and Oil Seed Crop Commodities,
and Environmental Interactions. Participants met for two
days and determined the potential amount of biofuels that
could be produced from resources in the region, as well as
the specific types of biomass feedstock available. The efforts
undertaken at the North Central workshop have led to a Federal
effort to categorize the resources identified in the Billion
Ton study on a regional and local basis.
Southeast and North Central workshop participants are currently
reviewing and compiling the information obtained and generated
during the first two workshops into useful reports on the
availability of biomass resources and barriers to utilizing
them in both regions. These reports will be used to identify
the next steps in mobilizing the Partnership to begin to
overcome the barriers identified. Meanwhile, those in the
South Central, Western, and Northeastern regions are mobilizing
to hold their first regional feedstock partnership workshops
in 2007.
The Regional Biomass Energy Feedstock Partnership is designed
to truly function as a partnership. To ensure this, a number
of organizations have come together to plan, host, and implement
the work of each region’s partnership.
At the Federal level, the DOE Office of the Biomass Program,
including the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Idaho National
Laboratory, has partnered with several USDA agencies. This
Federal team will be involved in each region’s efforts.
Each regional workshop will be organized and hosted by that
region’s Sun Grant Center:
Southeast Region: University of Tennessee – Knoxville
North Central Region: South Dakota State University
Northeastern Region: Cornell University
South Central Region: Oklahoma State University
Western Region: Oregon State University
Finally, each region will also have one or more regional
governors group involved in planning efforts:
Southeast Region: Southern States Energy Board
North Central Region: Council of Great Lakes Governors
Western and North Central Regions: Western Governors’ Association
Northeastern Region: Coalition of North Eastern Governors
Western Region: Pacific Regional Biomass Energy Partnership
The work of these organizations, as well as various other
partners within each region, will help to achieve the establishment
of a successful biofuels industry by partnering at the regional
level. Through this partnership, the full potential of the
resources identified in the Billion Ton study can be used
effectively to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign
oil.
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