The Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy is USDAs approach to support economic, cultural, and natural resources sustainability in the region. New report argues that even the Southeast can get a significant amount of electricity from renewable resources. USDA plans to leverage its resources to support these efforts including programs to strengthen small businesses, broadband, renewable energy production, local foods and agriculture production, water and sewer infrastructure, healthcare, housing, outdoor tourism, silviculture support and others as appropriate. The locations selected were bounded by a 280-mile radius to allow for a four-hour maximum one-way haul, and trucks offloading biomass every 15 minutes. Gasification. While new jobs more than replace those lost in coal and gas, some communities will be disproportionately impacted by the transition. But customers across the Southeast are still beholden to vertically-integrated utilities that own every aspect of electricity generation, transmission, and delivery. You may opt-out by. The alkaline spent liquor from the digesters in the production of sulfate or soda pulp during the manufacture of paper. To understand geography . Map of pulp and paper mill closures. The region is committed to renewable energy and integrating sustainable practices into legacy industries. 29 Inorganic chemicals are used to dissolve the lignin holding together wood fibers, thus making the cellulosic fibers available for the manufacture of paper products. But this result is indicative of what should be on the table for each utilitys next resource plan. ( Monopoly utilities plan their electric grids independently from their neighbors and impose fees called wheeling charges to ship power across successive utility transmission systems. http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=1975. United States government. "Malaysia is endowed with vast renewable energy resources such as biomass and solar. Biocrops are fast-growing (sometimes hybridized) species dedicated to producing energy (electricity or liquid fuels) from all or part of the resulting plant.30 These are mostly perennials such as switchgrass or mixed prairie perennials, or trees like willow or poplar, but any other plant material could be used for biocrops. While the rate of underperformance was least severe in the Southeast (reported at 17% below the U.S. average), that region is the most prone to anomalies driven by physical damage (such as cracking, delamination, or . Renewable energy development is growing rapidly due to vast population growth and the limited availability of fossil fuels in Southeast Asia. Diversity of biomass resources seems likely to be key to the economic production of biomass-fired power generation. This cooperative agreement is truly an innovative approach taken by the USDA, said Richard Chalyee esh Peterson, President of Tlingit & Haida. Official websites use .gov A .gov This important step towards more battery deployments will increase the penetration of renewable energy, reduce pollution from fossil fuels, and help develop an electric vehicle infrastructure, supporting Thailands transition towards a carbon-neutral country. Congress has been debating establishment of a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) to encourage increased use of all forms of renewable energy including generating electricity from biomass sources (H.R. Proponents of an RES assert that the Southeast has ample biomass resources to meet renewable energy requirements of an RES. Nearly all Southeast coal plants cost more to run than replacing them with new wind and solar, so continuing to run these uneconomic resources forces customers to foot the bill and inhale dirty air. The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) released the Southeastern Region Report, the final portion of ACORE's 6th annual Renewable Energy in the 50 States report. Climateworks saw, first-hand, leaders at the G20 and COP27 reaffirm the 1.5-degree Celsius Paris Agreement goal and . Today, most wood used as fuel for thermal processes or power generation actually is waste from the harvesting and processing of trees by the forest products industry (i.e., tree bark, branches and stumps, wood chips, sawdust, and lignin). Today, biomass is the largest source of renewable energy in the United States. A clean electricity standard would ensure aspirational goals set by utilities are realized, while market reform would help ensure this happens at least cost. Concerns over the potential impacts of a federal RES seem to revolve largely around the issue of whether, nationwide, sufficient renewable energy resources exist and are economically viable. Still new to solar, the markets in Southeast Asia are almost the inverse of Australia, Director of Solar Distribution Junrhey Castro tells pv magazine Australia. Listening to the importance of the sustainability strategy to local communities, learning about southeast Alaska culture, and meeting Tribal members and partners is an honor for me, said Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Dr. Homer Wilkes. Renewable energy in Southeast Asia is a growing sector with a market size of $205 billion and capital investments totaling $11 billion between 2020 and 2022. Virginia and North Carolina are the only two southeastern states to have enacted RPS requirements, but at levels below current federal RPS proposals. After 2012, renewable fuel use is required to grow in volume as gasoline demand grows. Figure 1. Renewables were used to meet 5 percent of Southeast power sales in 2006, according to the paper, which defines the region as Alabama, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and. The effects of these new federal requirements added to existing uses on the price of woody biomass is uncertain, but increased demand without a commensurate increase in supply (or development of alternative supplies) usually leads to higher prices for a finite resource. One portfolio would be to continue to operate these coal plants, and another would be to phase them out while replacement generation and capacity from solar, wind, and storage come online. A nationwide renewable electricity standard is a major goal for Democratic leaders and environmentalists. Feb 27, 2023 - Mar 1, 2023. Collaborated with Thailands Office of the Energy Regulatory Commission to develop regulations and technical standards to ensure the safety and performance of battery energy storage systems. North Carolina has enacted a 12.5% requirement by 2021 for electric utilities and a 10% requirement for municipal and cooperative utilities. Retrieved from Raysonho . However, biomass would have to be utilized from a variety of sources, with forestry residues and stumps within a 45-minute haul range, and urban wood residues within a 135-minute haul.64, In comparison, Georgia Power's biomass conversion at the former Mitchell coal plant is expected to draw upon waste wood from a 100-mile radius around the facility. CHARLOTTE NC - June 2, 2017: CREDIT: Mike Catanzaro, panel installer at Accelerate Solar, finishes [+] installed electrical wiring at a solar array he recently installed at a job site in East Charlotte. AF&PA contends that additional income from trading in RECs by biopower companies could lead to increased demand and higher prices for biomass, thus forcing forest products companies nationwide to pay more for its raw materials. Recent technological developments are improving yields from cellulosic production and bringing down production costs61 which, when coupled with incentives for ethanol production, may further increase demand and possibly prices for biomass. However, the regions major user of woody biomass and producer of wood wastes is the forest products industry. USDA Forest Service photo. This incentivizes monopolies to over-build power plants, thereby increasing profits for their shareholders. Renewable Portfolio Standards. The pulp and paper industry dominates the cogeneration sector today fueled largely by biomass from wood wastes. Aggressive customer cost savings, significant employment gains, and cleaner air for the first time, research demonstrates how much a competitive regional electricity market would benefit the Southeast U.S. To deliver these benefits for the people they serve, policymakers and regulators should immediately ramp up efforts to bring competition to a region that has for too long been beholden to monopolies at the exclusion of low-cost clean energy. Today, biomass is the largest source of renewable energy in the United States. Our USAID [United States Agency for International Development] Clean Power Asia program made huge investments in clean power and is projected to help the region avoid 30 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 15 years, he continued. Together were making a lasting impact across the Southeast. 35, Landfill gas from decomposing organic matter in landfills can be collected and used to generate electricity, if it is present in suitable quantities and is of a high enough quality in its energy content.36 As such, landfill gas is usually a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, and may contain other contaminants requiring treatment or removal before the gas can be used as fuel to produce steam for power generation.37, As an alternative to burying the volumes of trash collected by cities and towns, waste-to-energy facilities can use municipal solid waste directly as a fuel source to generate electricity. Forest Biomass and its Role in a National Renewable Electricity Standard. The Southeast has enough renewable resources to meet the 25 percent renewable-power mandate proposed by draft House energy and climate legislation, according to a new assessment [pdf] by environmental groups. First, with heavy reliance on fossil resources, Southeast Asian governments are promoting renewable energy as the region is endowed with a rich variety of natural resources [15][16][17]. 26 USC 48. Climate change mitigation goals may have additional impacts on the value of renewable energy credits, and eventual impacts on biomass demand nationwide. Reprinted from Greenwire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. A "Renewable Electricity Deployment Fund," proposed in H.R. The key determinants of success related to fuel for a biomass power plant include the availability of biomass resources, prices of the feedstock, and the cost of collection and delivery of these resources. In these states, most renewable energy projects are utility-owned. This open-ended engagement ensures that investments were paired with a forward-looking approach to plan for longer-term action that are home-grown and responsive to local priorities, complement ongoing partnerships, and are inclusive of the values and peoples in the region. So basically using the savings from switching from coal to local solar to add storage to make the grid more resilient. Bhutan has achieved 100 per cent energy access through off-grid energy sources. research demonstrates how much a competitive regional electricity market would benefit the Southeast U.S. Energy Innovation has released updated analysis comparing the cost of continuing to operate coal plants to replacing them with solar, wind, or batteries. Overall outcomes anticipated include stronger relationships with Tribal Nations, Alaska Native corporations, and municipal governments; inclusive, diverse engagements that represent the people, communities, and cultures of Southeast Alaska; an understanding of administrative barriers that continue to impact funding distribution and may include changes to policies, laws, and regulations; and be able to use input gained from engagements to determine short- and long-term investments for the region. This visit reinforces USDAs commitment to locally driven collaborative work towards shared outcomes in southeast Alaska communities. The projects announced today have been allocated in the categories below: Tribal and Indigenous Interests total commitment of $12.5 million, which includes about $2.3 million for the six projects announced today. Using them. The investment tax credit is an incentive for domestic investment in renewable energy plant and equipment. Biomass has been characterized by advocates for an RES in the Southeast (i.e., Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) as the regions main renewable resource which could be used to meet a standard. JUNEAU, Alaska, March 31, 2022 The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced 25 projects totaling nearly $9 million of investments that are to be funded through the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy (SASS). Conversely, this situation could potentially benefit landowners in the region who have seen prices for wood fall with the economic decline of the forest products industry. While a fully restructured, organized market would take time to establish, the companion policy report recommends ways state legislatures and public utility commissions can introduce competitive behavior in advance of a traditional RTO/ISO. New resources (such as dedicated biocrops) or other biomass sources (such as municipal solid waste) may need to be used if biomass from forest residues and forest product industry wastes do not prove sufficient to meet RES goals. Knowledge awaits. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is permanently chartering a regional OneUSDA team to continue this collaborative approach to achieving social, economic, ecological, and cultural sustainability in Southeast Alaska. Drill Baby Drill 2.0: The EPA Needs To Start Permitting Wells For Carbon Dioxide Sequestration, Asias Hunger For Energy Will Not Save Russias Economy, all Southeast coal plants cost more to run, proposed the voluntary Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM), New research from Energy Innovation and Vibrant Clean Energy, establishing a competitive wholesale electricity market, investigate the benefits of establishing organized markets, Competitive wholesale electricity markets, These markets are far from perfect in practice, ambitious long-term climate announcements, heavily reliant on expensive-to-run coal plants, doubling down on risky new gas infrastructure investments, a competitive regional Southeast market through 2040, one of the countrys fastest growing economic sectors, offering higher than average wages, the growing number of companies with 100% clean energy goals, may suffer more economic loss from COVID-19 than any other area of the country, 1.5 times as much PM 2.5 compared to white Americans, one of the most damaging pollutants for human health, up to $60 billion each year in 2050 and up to $99 billion in 2090 in costs, only North Carolina has a meaningful renewable portfolio standard.