FutureMetrics has bundled a selection of charts and tables that describe some of the pellet markets in a PowerPoint format.  The slide deck also highlights two innovations that will change the pellet sector.

This brief white paper is motivated by a policy announcement in India on October 8 that mandates that 5% to 10% biomass pellets must be blended with coal by October 2022 in most of its coal fueled power stations.

This white paper quantifies the demand for biomass pellets based on the Indian coal fueled power generation fleet.  It also offers an opinion on the potential for India to import wood pellets.

Even after years of explaining managed forest dynamics, the carbon debt misconception lives on. 

To this day, and sometimes by academics with PhD’s after their names, the carbon debt fallacy is perpetuated.  This white paper will explain why they get it wrong. 

This white paper’s thesis is that the likelihood of evolving policy that supports continue growth in demand for pellet fuels might be significantly increased by focused efforts on cooperation between the pellet sector and the consortiums that advocate for wind power, solar power, and energy storage.

Cooperation in strategy and communications may yield a future in which government strategies and influential reporting will have a more complete view of how to get from today to a fully decarbonized power sector.

Version 1.0 of wood pellets, i.e., so-called “white” pellets, have been unchanged for decades.  The promise of more advanced pellets has been around for at least two decades.  So-called “black” pellets that do not lose their integrity when exposed to water, and have other characteristics that lower the barriers for adoption as a coal substitute,  have not, to date, gained significant market share.  This white paper discusses why and also shows how innovation may have opened the door, finally, to pellets version 2.0.

The idea of carbon capture and storage (CCS) used in conjunction with fossil fueled power generation is appealing.  However, the best that CCS can achieve with fossil fuels is to approach CO₂ neutrality.  That is, they cycle carbon that has been sequestered over millions of years from out of the ground and then back into the ground.  There is no net change in atmospheric CO₂ as a result.

But we can do better.  Carbon neutral is good, carbon negative is much better.  This white paper envisions a future in which some of the existing coal fueled power stations are modified to use pellet fuel and capture and sequester the carbon dioxide produced from combustion.  CO₂ permanently  removed from the atmosphere and renewable power are the result.

This paper is accompanied by a new dashboard.  See below in the dashboard section.  The dashboard is also directly linked from within the white paper.

If the goal of policy is to lower CO₂ emissions in the power sector, the metric that should inform decision making should be based on the total investment and operating cost per avoided tonne of CO₂. 

This white paper will discuss this metric and will compare the analytics of two scenarios that provide on-demand dispatchable power: (1) Retire coal power plants and replace them with new natural gas combined cycle generating stations, and (2) modify existing pulverized coal power plants to use renewable industrial wood pellets as a substitute for coal.  

This short white paper and the accompanying dashboard show how combining the use of sustainably sourced wood pellets and carbon capture and sequestration in a power plant can achieve significant negative CO2 emissions.  The paper shows why BCCS must be part of every decarbonization strategy.

The goal of attaining a carbon free electricity generation sector is necessary. But the path from today to that goal needs to be pragmatic. This white paper offers guidance for near and long-term solutions that the Biden administration can incorporate into their strategy.