US Forest Service Promises $80M to Spur Wood Biomass Energy Innovation

The U.S. Forest Service is taking the wood to energy causes with a new announcement of $80 million in awards across the timber industry.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the $80 million for Wood Innovation Grants to spur wood production manufacturing, expand forest management and accelerate energy innovation for timber feedstocks. The Forest Service awards are building off President Trump’s call to utilize more of the nation’s natural resources for energy production, manufacturing and economic development.

Among the Wood Innovation Grants so far this year include a $184,651 award to the Alaska Energy Authority to pursue energy markets for low-value wood, $300,000 to Mahipapa LLC to upgrade a wood energy system for improving efficiency in biomass handling, and $114,553 to Northern Michigan University for engineering a restart to the biomass system at the campus.

“The United States is blessed with a bounty of natural resources that we must properly manage to sustain our future economy and boost rural communities. Proper forest use and management lowers our reliance on foreign products and is inherently aligned with President Trump’s America First agenda,” Agriculture Secretary Rollins said in a statement. “We’re investing in innovation that ensures a steady, sustainable supply of American wood that not only supports jobs and fuels economies, it protects the people and communities we serve, as well as the forest resources they depend on to survive and thrive.”

Many biomass energy projects are expanding across the globe, part of a growing $150 billion market. In Michigan earlier this year, climate tech firm Woodchuck opened a new biomass processing facility in Grand Rapids.

Biomass feedstock can include wood and animal and plant waste.