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In this Week's Pellet Wire:
From the Director's Desk:
Our Condolences
Like many of you I read the heartfelt and tragic announcement from Jeff Thiessen, president of PFI-member Danson’s about the accident that claimed the lives of senior vice president Scott Lowe and his wife Amy, both of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. I read some local coverage and the Lowes sound like they were the kind of civic minded people so important to rural communities like Mt. Pleasant. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Lowe family and his friends and family at Danson’s.
May Numbers Are in – Early Take
We’re stretching the deadline on this issue of PelletWire because I thought it was important to include some reaction to the May data in the EIA’s Monthly Densified Biomass Report, which were posted just yesterday morning (August 20). Largely, the numbers paint a picture of an industry that remains, so far, largely unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The biggest miss from last year’s numbers is overall production with producers cranking out 143,796 tons of product. While well short of last year’s 164,964 tons it is still well ahead of the 5-year average for May (122,929). One of the major talking points and questions raised during this year’s recently completed VirtuallyPFI was the availability of upstream fiber to producers. So far, the data would indicate that largely producers are able to find and buy ample fiber from both sawmills and wood product manufacturing sites. When isolating just the COVID-19 impacted months of March-May, the data shows that residual fiber purchases are down just 4% (3.35 million tons in 2020, 3.5 million tons in 2019). Consider also that March-May residual purchases had never been greater than 3 million tons until last year and as recently as 2017, residual purchases over that period were just 2.3 million tons. Producers are finding and buying good volumes of fiber, COVID or not. Producers laid in 30,000 tons of inventory last month, and the accumulated inventory of 199,474 tons is 12,000 more tons than we had this time last year. The number that I found most interesting was the monthly sales number, specifically the 76,083 tons the East sold. Overall 2020 May sales in the U.S. are up 37% from last May (142,761 tons to 103,614). All regions are up, with the East showing the biggest gain at 41%. I suspect consumers and retailers alike are hedging a little in this season of uncertainty and this year, the resounding chorus of “buy pellets early” is being headed.
Board Transitions
Typically, the annual conference marks the end and beginning of board terms. This year is far from typical so we used the final day of VirtuallyPFI to bid farewell to those directors wrapping up their terms and welcome our slate of new directors.
I’d like to offer my sincere appreciation to Don Wagner of Appalachian Wood Pellets and John Shimek of Hearth & Home Technologies for their faithful service to the PFI board. Both have made huge contributions to our board and will be missed. Fortunately, we simultaneously welcomed five new members to the PFI board, including a new representative from both Appalachian Wood Pellets (Tom Plaugher) and Hearth & Home Technologies (Karen Smeltz). Additionally, we welcome Mike Davison (Barefoot Pellets), Jase Locke (Louisville Dryer) and Kasia Sutherland (Traeger) to our board.
—Tim Portz
Executive Director
Photo of the Week: A Sign of the Times
Unable to gather in-person for this year’s annual conference the Pellet Fuels Institute launched VirtuallyPFI, a COVID-19 safe remote platform to share the news of our industry. Here, Executive Director Tim Portz speaks with producer-member representatives Brett Jordan (Lignetics), Pat Curran (Curran Renewables) and Matt O’Malley (O’Malley Wood Pellets).
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Send Us Photos! Help us build a collection of photos of our members, their pellets mills, and product! Send images to Tim Portz at [email protected].
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Please get in touch with Tim Portz via email at [email protected] with information on your company's growth, job openings, promotions, or other news.
Join a PFI Committee
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Industry News
Vermont offers cash to convert coal heat to wood pellets (WCAX3)
Vermont’s Clean Energy Development Fund has a new program to help homeowners and businesses convert from old coal to new wood pellet heating.
The fund now offers Vermont homeowners up to $10,000 to help pay the costs of switching to cleaner wood pellet systems.
Read Full Article
More coverage of the Vermont incentive (Biomass Magazine)
Homeowners that change out a coal stove or boiler with an eligible pellet stove or central wood heating system can receive up to 50 percent as an incentive from the CEDF, including disposal costs for oil coal systems.
Read Full Article
How a Backyard Smoker Made This Miserable Summer Pretty Sweet: A Beginner’s Guide (Chron)
Night after night during the coronavirus pandemic, I trudged into the kitchen to cook dinner, dragging my feet the whole way. Sure, I ordered takeout occasionally, but for the most part, I was rifling through the fridge and pantry in the hopes that some magical dinner inspiration would strike.
One afternoon, I got a craving for barbecue. I've always loved smoked meats, but never considered buying a smoker or pellet grill myself.
Read Full Article
Remotely powerful: Nine rural communities’ experience with bioenergy – Part 4 (Canadian Biomass)
The use of community-based biomass energy systems in rural and remote communities in Canada is relatively new, as indicated in the previous articles in this series, with most communities having only a few seasons of operational experience at most.
Read Full Article
EIA Monthly Densified Biomass Fuel Report (May Data)
As of May 2020, the monthly data collection included 84 operating manufacturers of densified biomass fuel. These manufacturers had a total production capacity of 11.85 million tons per year and collectively had an equivalent of 2,203 full-time employees.
Read Full Article
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