- Renewables portfolio standard (Senate Bill X1-2, [Simitian, Chapter 1, Statutes of 2011); Senate Bill 107 [Simitian, Chapter 464, Statutes of 2006]; Senate Bill 1078 (Sher, Chapter 516, Statutes of 2002])
- Assembly Bill 32 (The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 [Chapter 488, Statutes 2006])
- Senate Bill 1122 – Bioenergy feed-in tariff (Chapter 612, Statutes of 2012)
- Senate Bill 96 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 356, Statutes of 2013)
- Executive Order B-55-18 to Achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2045 (September 2018)
- Proclamation of a State of Emergency to protect communities against unprecedented tree die-off (October 30, 2015)
- Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy (March 2017)
The Powertainer is a technology suitable to address this emergency by generating electricity and heat from dead trees and producing biochar for agricultural applications. Traditional large centralized biomass plants require fuel to be transported large distances, potentially offsetting the value of the fuel itself. The premise behind the Powertainer is that the technology fits within a standard shipping container that can be easily moved and set up close to fuel sources.
One of the largest obstacles experienced by this type of technology is the expensive regulatory challenges that delay project deployment. To have a viable portable energy solution, regulations are required that support small-scale, distributed energy projects. To facilitate the process of obtaining permits for biomass operations, permitting agencies (and legislators) must be informed about the benefits of unconventional renewable energy technologies, such as gasification. Permitting agencies have little familiarity with biomass energy technologies, especially at this small scale, resulting in small facilities having to comply with permitting requirements designed for large-scale projects. Further difficulty results from certification agencies such as Underwriters Laboratories not having a defined category for this type of technology. Another difficulty stems from the current readiness level of the technology, which has not reached commercialization. With the tree mortality emergency ongoing, and greater damage from forest fires each year directly affecting public safety, the development and implementation of real solutions should be accelerated as much as possible. Regulatory barriers affecting technology development should be addressed.
Project Purpose
This team designed, deployed, and tested a modular 150-kilowatt, mobile biomass gasification generator (the Powertainer) that converts forest slash into on-demand renewable energy, while meeting California air quality standards. The project team anticipated that the primary technical challenge would be to successfully scale the gasifier and the gas making system. However, the team experienced other unforeseen challenges, the most important having to do with regulation and interconnection. The regulatory challenges centered on costs, lead times, and permitting requirements not suited for an emerging technology. Regardless of these barriers, the project team was able to successfully operate and demonstrate the technology. However, before reaching commercial readiness, All Power Labs identified that further maturity of the system and new features were necessary to maximize the value of harvesting forestry biomass waste. Therefore, All Power Labs is working on the improvement and refinement of
