Forest Biomass and Its Role in a National Renewable Electricity Standard

According to the Energy Information Administration, biopower is one of the largest sources of renewable electricity in the United States, ranking second only to hydroelectric power in 2007. Furthermore, biomass is available in some form in all regions of the United States. As a baseload fuel, biomass can provide valuable backup capacity for more intermittent renewables, such as wind and solar. The cofiring of wood and coal is another important opportunity. Cofiring takes advantage of investments already made in existing power facilities and existing transmission infrastructure, resulting in one of the least expensive and quickest means of rapidly generating new renewable energy, reducing fossil fuel use, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Unmarketable trees, brush, and logging debris are regularly generated as part of timber management, stand improvement thinning, habitat management, hazardous fuels reduction, and other forest management and land stewardship activities. Revenue from these products reduces overhead for stand improvement activities, improving the economics for sustainable forest management, ecosystem restoration, wildlife conservation, and other non-commercial objectives. Processed into wood chips or wood pellets, woody feedstocks can be used to generate electricity on a renewable basis, helping to satisfy national objectives for renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction.

On March 4, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a briefing about the role that woody biomass from forest management can play in helping to meet a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). Currently, 28 states have an RES (sometimes called a Renewable Portfolio Standard or RPS) requiring utilities to provide annually increasing amounts of renewable energy, including solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biopower. The 111th Congress already has seen the introduction of legislation in both the House (H.R. 890) and Senate (S. 433) to establish a national RES. In addition, Senator Bingaman (D-NM), Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has circulated draft RES language and held a recent hearing on the topic. Renewable biomass harvested from sustainably managed forests has the potential to be an important contributor to a national RES, complementing other forms of renewable power and forming part of a robust, holistic strategy for addressing climate change and building a sustainable, clean energy economy.

• Biomass, described by speaker Bob Cleaves as the “most poorly understood resource in the U.S.,” is a low carbon source of renewable energy available in every region of the country. It is a readily available fuel source that can increase America’s energy independence and largely reduce carbon emissions in the short-term, relative to fossil fuels.
• It will be very difficult for some states to meet a national renewable energy standard if forest biomass is not included in state or regional energy portfolios. In the Southeast, for example, biomass represents about two-thirds of the region’s near-term potential for expanding renewable energy. “Biopower is our competitive advantage in the Southeast,” said speaker John Bonitz.
• A very inclusive definition of forest biomass must be included in a national RES which permits greater use of forest feedstocks from both public and private land. Strict rules and oversight on biomass harvesting and environment concerns will ensure a sustainable biomass industry.
• A national RES, with a broad and inclusive definition of forest biomass, will provide tremendous economic benefits. It will boost rural economies, reduce our reliance on imported fuels, make the grid more reliable, foster greater energy security, and create jobs. Use of biomass for energy will not compete with the pulp and paper industry to a significant extent, and therefore will not threaten existing manufacturing.
• Biomass can provide renewable, reliable baseload power. Furthermore, it is a low-cost, easily implemented baseload generation source, particularly when used in cofiring applications (where biomass replaces a portion of fossil fuels, usually coal). Biomass can also replace all fossil fuel at an existing power plant (known as repowering), but this requires far more expensive and extensive modifications compared to cofiring and will not occur without policy drivers and incentives. To lower Greenhouse gas emissions in compliance with national or EU mandates, many European countries heavily rely on cofiring for electricity generation.