Note from Alaska Wood Energy Conference 2017 wrap up!
General conference comments –
-Please send email out to group one PowerPoints on line
-Registration list
-Name tags – would have been nice to have Representing or organization on the tags
-Registration process sucked
-Galena Presentation – and Tanana presentation were great!
-Next time – focus on Economic multiplier effect!
-Would like more Economic impact of projects – helps administrators sell project
-Good mix of topics, we had engineers, foresters, administrators
- International representation was great – esp. Canada
-Topic that jumped out was the financing issue – not a lot of discussion
-Really enjoyed Jackie’s presentation – works for the government and it will refocus how they approach things. Never thought about the communication barrier
-Conference was great – nice to have the Greenhouse/Biomass connection
-Quite a few people are here for the first time
-First conference – was great to see the see the school/greenhouse connection – huge junior achieve project
-Question about PROCURMENT of biomass and Chips and drying! Session on this next time!
-Comment – there is a group of people in the lower 48 working on standardized chip specs, could we have a presentation on this next time?
-Canadians have adopted the ISO standard and that is what BTEC is looking at
-First Time saw legitimate CHP projects that might work in Alaska
-They are a researcher and it is nice to hear from foresters and operators
-??Canada has developed a series of bullitens and Fernando will send link to Karen to post!
- Liked presentation on Green Bank and incorporate that in future discussion
WHAT ABOUT THE BIOMASS TOUR –
-Should we re-do the Biomass Tour?
-Dan outlined the tour highlights……
-If you did a tour like that it is built on from the conference – need to have info sheets on projects
WHAT NEXT?
- Legislation? BTU act did not get much recognition in Senate last time around
- Next Farm Bill Negotiation’s underway and perhaps something there?
- Need to RECOGNIZE Heat as Energy and is equal to electricity
- Heard clip on radio – to promote forest product development to help with economic development – need clips on biomass
- Marketing? How does this help the little guy?
- Based on challenges in small communities include Capacity Building and having to build whole hunks of the economy to make it work – Galena and Tanana having to start harvesting operations is an example, not every community can do this
- Need Working Group to address Biomass Harvest on Tongass
- On that point – if a group could come up with BEST MANAGEMENT practices – to guide Biomass harvest
- Might have to be different for different parts of the state
- Created a group in Fairbanks to look at Biomass to secure a base purchaser for biomass
- Perhaps look at military to be a purchaser?
- Seems like a lot of projects rely on grants. Need to think about putting together Business Cases- don’t need a grant for cord wood or chips – maybe pellets
- Do a case study together that DID NOT USE A GRANT
- Crowd funding? Did a project that was totally funded with crowd funding? Who?
- Green Bank – might be attracted to this – crowd funding?
- Federal and State grants are drying up – maybe not for tribes – need to educate communities
- Do a News Story on a project that did not use grant
-Sewage Sludge? Does it count as Biomass?
-What about Garbage
NEXT CONFERENCE
- Sewage & Garbage
- Escos and Crowd funding
- Revolving loan fund – based on AG
- Looked at data that suggested that wood might not be a good choice
- Better collaboration
- TRAINING
- Quarterly calls – a good idea and could model those in other areas – i.e. Canada
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HOW DO WE DO A CONFERENCE IN CANADA?
- Have a conference in White Horse – in 2 years
- They will have an installed VOLTER system
- Already have other systems
- It is important to talk to people –
- Biomass tour was good – and time in van was good – especially since it gave time to talk about stuff
- Need for training and Proof that systems work
- Need a Trade school for biomass systems
WHERE SHOULD WE BE FOCISING FUTURE EFFORTS?
-Make sure we take care of what we have
-How do we tackle financing? DO we focus on prefeasibility or invest in a few projects and make them go
-Green Banks – can we put the data together to prove that projects work?
- Educate existing banks
- Issue – lack of a for-profit economy in villages
-Infrastructure is also lacking.
-Economic survival of communities is at stake
-Virtual PEER-NETWORK
-Have been successful on Quarterly biomass calls – can model for greenhouses and operator
-Non-traditional financing? What is that?
LAST COMMENTS!
-GREAT CONFERENCE
-This one was the best to far