Project Developer and Operator –
Biomass and Geothermal Resources
‹ Woody Biomass Combined Heat and Power: Lyonsdale Biomass
plant operating in Lyons Falls, NY; biomass projects in development within
New York and Northeast region
‹ Geothermal Energy: Developing a $400MM geothermal power project in
Imperial Valley, CA; two production test wells already installed
‹ Open/Closed Loop Woody Biomass Feedstock Aggregation:
Supplying industrials that required alternative to fossil fuel energy
‹ Commercial Woody Biomass Liquid Transportation Fuels:
Leading Biorefinery in NY Project
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The Catalyst Companies
Key Public and Private Alliances
‹ Leveraging
g g major
j private
p
financial resources across a variety
y of
woody biomass bio-power commercialization projects
‹ NYSTAR - New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and
Innovation
‹ NYSERDA - New York State Energy Research and Development
Authority
‹ NY PSC - New York Public Service Commission
‹ SUNY ESF - State University of New York College of Environmental
Science and Forestry
‹ USDOE - United States Department of Energy
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Why New York?
‹ Net energy importer
‹ Woody biomass meets Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
(RGGI) carbon capture/reduction standards
‹ Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) goal is 25% of all power
from homegrown renewable resources by 2013
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Why New York?
‹ Leading the charge on RGGI carbon credit auctions
‹ 2013 projections show woody biomass comprising 25% of all
new renewable power (~ 2300 MW)
‹ Woody biomass replacement of fossil-fueled generation (today
~ 51% of all power) reduces imported energy costs
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Lyonsdale Biomass
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Lyonsdale Biomass
‹ One of only two NY biomass
combined heat-and-power
(CHP) plants
‹ Acquired in 2003
‹ Distressed asset; close to
being shut down
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Lyonsdale Biomass
‹ Successful financial and
operational turnaround
‹ Now directs over 50
biomass suppliers
delivering 250,000 tons/year
at cost of $6 million
‹ Employs 24 men and women
earning $1.6 million/year in
direct wages
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Lyonsdale Biomass
‹ Twice, Catalyst advocated and won NY PSC competitive RPS
Renewable Energy Credits
‹ The only woody biomass operation to do so; now have a
contracted market for power output for future years
‹ Sells 15,000 lbs/hr of
commercial steam to Burrows
Paper Corp
‹ First and only facility certified
for NY RPS sustainable Forest
Management Plan
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New Project – CNY Co-Gen
‹ Lyonsdale lessons learned are
being re-deployed
‹ Entered into joint biomass
conversion and redevelopment
agreement with owners of a CNY
gas-fired CHP facility
‹ Will re-power with biomass-fired
boiler to supply a steam turbine
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New Project – CNY Co-Gen
‹ Benefits from existing
industrial steam users plus
new users who agreed to
relocate to adjacent property
‹ Engineering team completed
all conversion feasibility
analyses
l
‹ CNY Co-Gen is feasible,
suitable and commercially
viable
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New Project – CNY Co-Gen
‹ Forecast size is 35 MW
‹ Engineering, Procurement, and
Construction costs are estimated
at $47 million
‹ Design includes NOx emission
reduction devices to meet the
most restrictive targets for RPS
compliance in the Northeast
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Environmental Value
‹ Woody biomass
directly reduces
global warming/acid
rain
‹ Reduces emissions
such as CO2, SOX,
NOX, PM 2.5, PM10,
VOCs acid gases
VOCs,
and mercury
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Environmental Value
‹ Net energy ratios for wood-based bio-power and bio-products
are significant
‹ Woody Biomass 1 : 11 (Combustion)
‹ Woody Biomass 1 : 16 (Gasification)
‹ Woody Biomass 1 : 27 (Biorefinery)
‹ For each unit of fossil fuel energy used in harvesting, 11-27
units of renewable energy are produced
‹ Net energy ratio is far superior to the net energy ratio for
electricity from a combined cycle natural gas system (1:0.4)
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C.R. Corp © 2006
Environmental Value
‹ Open and closed loop woody
biomass are CO2 neutral
‹ Energy and bio-products can be
produced with no net addition of CO2
to the atmosphere
‹ Woody biomass combustion
combustion’s
s
reduction in GHG emissions is
greater than the reduction due to the
displacement of fossil fuel
Deer and fox feeding in the Lyonsdale
parking area.
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Policy Matters
‹ Woody
W d biomass
bi
is
i plentiful
l tif l
‹ Nationally, woody biomass can provide 368 million dry tons/year
‹ Nationally, growth rates exceed removal rates by almost 50% (net
annual growth on almost 500 million acres of U.S. timberland)
‹ In north-central states, growth exceeds removals by 95%
‹ Ratio is even greater in the northeast states, where growth
exceeds
d removals
l by
b 125%
‹ New York State has over 15.6 million acres with over 750 million
tons of standing biomass
‹ In NY, growth exceeds removals by more than 300%
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Policy Matters
‹ Used for baseload electrical and thermal energy generation
‹ Open and closed loop are synergistic
‹ Open loop markets drive closed loop expansion
‹ Not displacing food crops; putting fallow farmland back to
productive use
‹ Markets for green energy are readily available
‹ BUT… new biomass projects are hamstrung by lack of
production tax credit parity between open-loop biomass and
other renewable generation (baseload and non-baseload)
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Policy Matters – Production Tax Credit
Parity
‹ Need fair and equal tax credit parity for open-loop biomass
used to produce thermal energy and electric power
‹ Need adjustments of placed in service date for new or rebuilt
plants
‹ Need significant multi-year production tax credit
‹ Need availability of credit if open loop biomass is co-fired with
another fuel
‹ Need to lift restrictive rules applicable if the open loop biomass
facility is co-located with an industrial facility
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C.R. Corp © 2006
Policy Matters – Production Tax Credit
Parity
‹ Qualified energy resources are defined as including open-loop
biomass
‹ Renewable electricity production credit is an amount equal to:
‹ 1.5 cents (adjusted for inflation)
‹ Multiplied by the kilowatt hours of electricity
‹ Produced by the taxpayer from qualified energy resources
‹ At a qualified facility during the 10 year period beginning on the date the facility
was originally placed in service
‹ Sold by the taxpayer to an unrelated person during the taxable year
‹ BUT… If the general credit is 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour, the
credit for electricity produced at an open-loop biomass facility
is .95 cents… Half
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Policy Matters – Production Tax Credit
Parity
‹ Multi-Year extension of
production tax credits
will:
‹ Enable projects to be
financed by the
investment community
‹ Increase the
environmental benefits
and the production of
renewable energy from
woody biomass
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