DELEG Bureau of Energy Systems Awards Grants for Biomass Demonstration Projects

Contact: Mario L. Morrow 517-373-9280

Agency: Licensing and Regulatory Affairs

NOVEMBER 24, 2009 - Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth (DELEG) Director Stanley "Skip" Pruss announced today that $74,296 in grants have been awarded for biomass energy demonstration projects. The recipients are the Lansing Board of Water & Light (LBWL), Wyandotte Municipal Services (WMS), and Michigan Technological University (MTU) in Houghton.

"These grants demonstrate Michigan's ongoing commitment to developing renewable energy sources as a means of reducing our fossil fuel dependence and growing Michigan's economy," Pruss said. "The projects will serve as valuable references in facilitating biomass energy use in the state."

Biomass is defined as any organic matter that is available on a renewable basis through natural processes or as a by-product of human activity such as: agricultural crops and crop residues, animal manure, wood and wood waste, and some types of municipal solid waste. Through a variety of different conversion technologies, it can be used in producing electricity, heat, biogas, transportation fuels, and many valuable by-products.

Grants received by the utility companies will demonstrate the feasibility of co-firing various biomass fuels in their existing generating facilities. The LBWL project will focus primarily on evaluating the impacts of N-Viro Fuel™, a fuel derived from a blend of organic wastes, on equipment and emissions. The WMS project will investigate the logistics of acquiring and handling various woody biomass fuels. Both will conduct test burns of the proposed fuels to identify any technical challenges and develop recommendations for future use. The grant funding will assist the utilities in reaching their respective renewable portfolio standards in a timely manner. Under PA 295 all the electric utilities in the state of Michigan are required to meet a renewable portfolio standard of 10 percent of renewable energy by the year 2015.

The Michigan Tech study will evaluate the potential for operating snowmobiles on a higher ethanol-blended fuel (i.e. E15, which is 85 percent gasoline and 15 percent ethanol). This demonstration will be conducted in conjunction with the annual Clean Snowmobile Challenge competition in March and will address concerns of manufacturers, consumers, and regulators by providing one of the first publically-available sets of data on the impact of higher-ethanol content fuel in snowmobiles.

All projects are scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2010.

For more information about the Michigan Biomass Energy Program, please visit www.michigan.gov/biomass.

For more information about the individual projects listed above, please contact:

Ms. Sue Warren, Lansing Board of Water & Light, 517-702-6585, slw@lbwl.com
Ms. Melanie McCoy, Wyandotte Municipal Services, 734-324-7111, mmccoy@wyan.org
Dr. Scott Miers, Michigan Technological University, 906-487-2709, samiers@mtu.edu

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