Laidlaw Energy Group, Inc.(fka LLEG)

[rich sears]

The board’s next meeting is March 11, at which time they are expected to rule on Clean Power Development’s request for four special exceptions for its biomass plant. Clean Power met with both the planning and zoning boards last month. The zoning board tabled the application to seek an independent peer review of Clean Power’s wood study. The review was made public Monday. The zoning board hired University of New Hampshire Extension Professor and Forest Industry Specialist Sarah Smith to conduct the peer review as part of Clean Power’s request for a special exception under the city’s renewable energy facilities ordinance. Smith found the study, done last spring by Innovative Natural Resources Solution LLC, used the most relevant data available and was thorough. The study estimated there is enough biomass fuel available in Coos County at a reasonable price to supply a 30 megawatt biomass plant. As a result, Clean Power reduced the size of its project from 50 megawatts to 29. Smith wrote she felt Innovative Natural Resource Solutions did a good job “outlining the demand and supply constraints in light of the incredible complexity and short-term volatility in the market”. She said most of the wood that went to the Fraser pulp mill found a home in the regional market after the mill closed. Smith said Innovative Natural Resources also explained how the whole-tree chip market is dependent on high value products such as saw logs to make timber sales viable. If there is less demand for pulpwood, she said logging contractors may be willing to reconfigure equipment and produce more whole-tree chips for woodto-energy markets. Markets, she stressed, are “complex, shifting, and volatile”. Since the report, Smith said the state’s 2006 Report of Cut is available as well as maybe the 2007 report. Smith said the only thing she would recommend adding to the report is information on the nature of trucking radii - road networks, trucking arrangements, and competition. Under some conditions, such as good roads and businesses connections, she said wood can flow 150 miles in one direction. As the company digs deeper in the process, Smith said she expects it would seek additional information on wood availability from large land owners and managers. Smith mentioned in the report that she is also familiar with the wood study performed for the state Department of Resources and Economic Development by LandVest. That study estimates a range of 280,000 tons to 1 million tons of low grade wood available annually in northern New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. The issue of wood supply has become a topic of debate with two biomass plants and a wood pellet plant proposed for Berlin alone. Laidlaw Energy is proposing a 66-megawatt biomass plant that would consume about 725,000 tons of low grade wood a year. Greenova is proposing a wood pellet plant that would use about 400,000 tons of wood annually when it is completed. Clean Power’s plant would require 300,000 tons of wood a year. In addition to the energy facilities special exception, the company needs special exceptions for the height of its fence, the height of its stacks, and the number of parking spaces.

http://www.laconiadailysun.com/BerlinPDF/2009/2/25B.pdf