University seeks biomass suppliers in Wisconsin

February 18, 2010

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is searching for potential fuel suppliers for its proposed biomass heating facility.

State and university officials issued a request for information this week, seeking producers or collectors interested in providing around 250,000 tons of high density, low moisture biomass each year for the project.

The request seeks information on the type of fuel being offered, location, pricing, capacity, storage and transportation. Responses to the request are due by April 1, 2010.

The university is installing a biomass plant as part of its $251 million renovation of the Charter Street Heating Plant, which should go online in 2013 some two years after construction begins.

The coal-powered facility is being decommissioned to be replaced by a pair of natural gas-fired boilers until the biomass plant is in place.

Officials are already seeking suppliers for the biomass facility itself.

The Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative, a university-based coalition helping Wisconsin to switch to bioenergy systems, has set up a multiagency panel to establish a supply chain for the Charter Street plant.

It said this week’s request for information would be followed up in the coming months by a more detailed request for proposals from potential biomass fuel suppliers.

Network

Troy Runge, the Initiative’s director, said: “We want to cast the broadest possible net to eventually develop a network of suppliers who are capable of providing long-term, sustainable and environmentally responsible fuel supplies.”

The Initiative is seeking information from farmers, businesses and landowners that could potentially be involved in providing biomass material.

“We are trying to understand the market from top to bottom and make sure that we haven’t left any possible suppliers out of the process,” Mr Runge explained. “We’re considering a range of sources, from rural and urban forest products to corn stover to grasses and construction waste.”

Because there is a limited amount of space on the university campus itself, officials said only a limited amount – several days’ worth – of biomass fuel can be stored on site.

Off site locations will be needed to store and process the biomass material, which will be transported to the Charter Street location five to six days a week.