Renewable energy has the potential to become a major economic factor in Alabama, but it has not yet become the reality that we had hoped for. Electricity from solar and wind have yet to prove their feasibility for Alabama.  Geothermal heat sources are not available here.  Hydro-power is already a major source of our electricity, and the capacity of our rivers as power sources is fully utilized.

Alabama’s forest and farm biomass resources and the infrastructure already in place to grow, harvest, and deliver them, will attract businesses which will produce renewable electricity and biofuels.  We have seen public announcements of renewable electricity projects, but no stand-alone plants have been built.  Southern Company/Alabama Power Company has shown that co-firing wood with coal can be an economical and technical alternative to burning 100% coal in some of their power plants.  The primary reason for this lack of progress appears to be the lack of clear energy policy at the federal level.

Twenty-nine states now have Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), requiring that some percentage of the electricity sold in that state comes from renewable sources.  Five others have “goals” for renewable electricity.  The use of common sense to create new markets for biomass fuels for the production of renewable electricity can be a win-win for Alabama and our power producers.

The renewable transportation fuels industry has also been slower than anticipated in developing.  It appears that some combination of financial and technical difficulties have prevented the announced cellulose based bio-fuels plants from becoming commercial.  Hopefully the issues delaying these plants will be resolved soon.  Other biofuels plants are rumored to be considering Alabama for building facilities, and we await these announcements.

The biomass based biofuels industry, when developed, will probably be more attractive markets for forest or agricultural sources of biomass.  It appears that this industry can afford to pay more for cellulosic biofuel feedstocks than power companies can pay for biomass as a fuel to produce electricity.

The Biomass Crop Assistance Program is a federal program designed to assist in developing crops of biomass and markets for them.  Instead, it wasted millions of taxpayer dollars before being temporarily halted.  Hopefully it will return and accomplish its intended purpose.

We understand inter-relationship between the agriculture, forestry, and the energy industries in Alabama. Our potential to become the nation’s leader in renewable electricity and transportation biofuels must not be overlooked.