Representatives of two consulting groups will meet with the Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on Wednesday, September 26 to talk about the potential of a biomass-fueled district heating plant in Grand Marais.
The public is invited to this meeting, to be held in the commissioners’ room at the Cook County Courthouse at 7 p.m., and will have some opportunity to ask questions and make comments.
The presentation is another step in the process of investigating the feasibility of heating Grand Marais with biomass.
Representatives of FVB Energy Inc. and the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota (BBAM) will address the specifics of a final feasibility study and development of a business plan which will serve as the foundation for a decision on whether to pursue the construction of a biomass heating plant.
This phase of the process will be funded by county 1 percent recreation and infrastructure sales tax revenue and will consist of two steps. First, an assessment of the actual customer base and what would be needed to get them connected to the system will be conducted, a technical concept of the plant and necessary infrastructure based on the latest information will be developed, and a draft business plan will be created. If this step determines district heating in Grand Marais has a sound economic basis, the county board and city of Grand Marais can elect to move forward with the second step – development of a schematic design of the facility and a final business plan.
Funding for this project was requested by the Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP), which will serve as the project coordinator. The county board has released $112,000 for the first step and will release the remaining funding of $243,000 if the first step reveals that the project is feasible.
One aspect of this next phase in the process is the collaboration among numerous companies involved in the energy industry: FVB Energy Inc., the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, and the Swedish Bioenergy Association (SveBio). Energy creation from biomass fuels, such as pellets from wood and other raw materials, is a green resource that is being utilized more and more by small- and medium-sized companies in Sweden looking to minimize their environmental impact and energy costs. The goal of the partnership is to increase usage of biomass energy in Minnesota by encouraging technology transfers and commercial development of bioenergy, which will not only benefit businesses in both countries, but develop green energy locally in Minnesota.
FVB Energy Inc. has provided consulting services for district cooling and district heating systems in North America since 1990. The company has offices in Minneapolis and Seattle, Washington; Vancouver, British Columbia, Edmonton, Alberta, and Toronto, Ontario in Canada; and Sweden.
According to CCLEP, FVB Energy Inc. brings the benefits of European experience and expertise in district energy systems, particularly hot water district heating and combined heat and power, together with North American business, financial and marketing expertise to assist clients in energy system planning, development and implementation.
The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota (BBAM) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) subsidiary of LifeScience Alley, a Minnesota-based trade organization. BBAM’s three roles in the Minnesota region bioscience sector are industry development, infrastructure incubation, and the facilitation of public-private partnerships. Part of the company mission is to lead programs and projects to develop new industries, accelerate the evolution of existing industries, and to implement capabilities required to ensure a healthy business climate and a stronger community.
The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota has teamed with the Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio) to jointly increase the use of bioenergy in Minnesota and raise the profile of Swedish bioenergy exports to the United States.
For more information, contact George Wilkes (gwilkes@boreal.org), Paul Nelson (hollylake@hughes.net) or Gary Atwood (biomass@boreal.org).
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