Californian biomass facility to reopen

A biomass facility in California that was temporarily shut down earlier this year is planning to restart operations in July 2017.

Blue Lake Power announced its plans to restart its 12MW biomass plant located in Blue Lake, CA, with a press release. The company also announced it is currently looking for partners for short and long term contracts.

The facility, located close to the town of Eureka, is a biomass power-generation unit designed to burn wood, create steam and operate a turbine to generate electrical power. That power will be sold into northern California’s power grid.

“Under its operating permit, the plant may burn fuel consisting of untreated wood including sawmill hog fuel, shavings, bark, branches, cull logs, tree tops, off-spec and waste lumber, skids, yard waste, walnut shells, similar woody agricultural waste, shredded lumber, woody materials from hazardous forest areas, etc. The facility may not accept treated or painted materials,” according to the statement from Blue Lake Power LLC.

The company is currently working to secure short and long term supplies of high quality wood fuel for ongoing operations. In total, the facility requires approximately 175 highway loaded chip vans of fuel per week. Cull logs and unground wood can also be accepted by the biomass facility. A remote site that will be able to accept some wood deliveries is also under development.