American Renewable Power
300 Spectrum Drive , Suite 400 , Irvine, California, United States

American Renewable Power ("ARP") is a California-based company that acquires, owns and operates renewable energy power facilities in the US. ARP acquires and operates large-scale biomass, wind and solar generation assets to provide a reliable, renewable electricity source to large corporate and institutional customers. Our initial facilities are biomass power generation assets in the western US.  In early 2018, ARP begun operations of its first biomass power generation plant in the US, providing baseload, renewable power to our customers. We own and operate well-established biomass generation facilities that have 30+ year track-records of providing 24/7, 365 day renewable power. Unlike solar or wind power, our biomass facilities operate round-the-clock providing a stable, known level of energy. This also enables ARP to provide our power customers with long-term, fixed pricing options allowing for simplified forecasting of a client’s power budget.  Biomass’ environmental impact is becoming increasingly significant. In addition to being a stated carbon-reduction technology by the US EPA, biomass power generation plays a highly significant role in reducing forest fire risk and in diverting biomass waste away from landfill sites.

Biomass Power Overview

Biomass is material that originates from living plants. Our power plants convert forest-based waste and diverted biomass material (e.g. urban and agricultural waste material) into fuel to generate 20-35MW of grid-delivered, 24/7, 365 day baseload renewable electricity.  Forest-based biomass is sourced from three primary sources:

• Tops and limbs of trees harvested to produce finished lumber (approximately 20-25% by weight of every tree sustainably cut for such use is typically left behind in the forest, creating a fire hazard

• Smaller trees that are thinned out of forests periodically (typically at 8 year intervals) so that the remaining trees can grow more productivel

• Roadside and power line tree trimmin

• Agriculture biomass includes waste products such as plant stalks, straw, prunings, shells, etc

• In addition, in many cities, laws now mandate the separation of clean wood resulting from construction and demolition as well as residential tree trimmings before going to a landfill. This urban waste source typically constitutes 10-15% by volume of the total fiber consumed by a plant each year

• Each plant receives a continuous supply of these materials 24/7 from within a one-hour’s truck drive radius

• The biomass fuel is fed into an automatic loading system that meters an even flow of material into a boiler where the heat generated from the combustion of the fiber creates high-pressure steam. The steam flows into a multi-stage GE turbine which is directly connected to a generator

• All currently permitted biomass power plants have modern air emission control systems with real-time monitoring systems to ensure that the renewable power is a clean source of electricity.

• Biomass energy plants are considered by the US EPA as a carbon-reduction technonolgy. They are a long run negative emitter of greenhouse gases. If the fiber feedstock is not consumed to produce electricity and is left in the forest or landfill, it will emit higher amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide as it naturally degrades.

• There are more than 200 biomass plants throughout the US delivering heat and electricity for industrial facilities as well as into the power grids. The multi-billion dollar industry sustains more than 25,000 jobs, the large percentage of which are in very rural communities.

• Biomass power plants in the US consume more than 35 million tons of waste wood annually to produce 24 million megawatt hours per year and millions of pounds of industrial-grade steam for industrial processes.

Sustainability

Renewable energy sources such as Wind, Solar, Hydro, etc are considered Zero Carbon as they do not directly generate CO2 or other GHGs as a byproduct of producing electricity. Fossil fuels such as Coal and Natural Gas however, release GHGs (amongst other pollutants) into the atmosphere. Forest waste-based Biomass also generates GHGs and on a simple static comparison, can release more GHGs / KWh produced than the normally larger and thus more efficient coal and natural gas power plants.  However, the key difference with wood-based biomass power is that it does not actually produce new carbon. It simply releases the carbon that was absorbed by the tree over its normal 30-40 year harvest cycle. The distinction between using biomass fuel rather than coal or gas is that the carbon discharged when biomass is burned was already part of nature because of the plant from which it was derived. When coal or gas is used for power generation, the CO2 released into the environment was from millions of years ago and from underground, and hence is releasing additional new carbon into the atmosphere.  The US biomass power industry uses 100% wood waste from sustainably-managed forestry operations. Trees removed in logging operations must be replanted and forestry operations are managed such that their operations are sustainable. Thus the carbon released by burning wood waste from US forestry operations is in effect carbon-neutral over a 30-40 year forest harvesting cycle. As forests grow, carbon dioxide (CO2) is removed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis. The CO2 absorbed is converted into organic carbon, stored in woody biomass, and oxygen is returned to the atmosphere. Trees release their stored carbon as CO2 when they die, decay or are combusted, completing the carbon cycle. Carbon in biomass returns to the atmosphere regardless of whether it is burned for energy, allowed to biodegrade naturally or lost in a forest fire. The forest products industry facilitates the flow of CO2 in and out of forests through both biomass combustion and long-term carbon sequestration in products. Overall, the flow of forest CO2 is carbon positive when forests are sustainably managed, and the forest-to-products system remains a net sink of CO2 from the atmosphere.  The life cycle of a forest is typically 35-40 years from the date on which a 40 acre block is cleared and replanted by the land owner. These 40 acre sections are prepared and planted with expected thinnings at 8 and 15 years and additional logging every 5 years or so thereafter until a final clearing again at 40 years. This cycle is codified into sustainable harvest practices by several organizations (SFC, FSC & PETC, SBP). All forest land managers abide by this practice and depend on regional biomass power plants to buy the significant volumes of residuals (tops & limbs) that result from these continuous forest activities. While forest growth (measured in tons/acre/year) varies from Alaska to Georgia as a direct correlation to climatic conditions, the tonnage removed annually in a 50-mile radius is a known amount and professionally managed forestlands are independently audited in order to certify that all removals of trees (by tonnage) never exceeds the average annual growth.  Under these conditions, it is accurate to state that carbon released by burning wood waste from US forestry operations is, in fact, carbon-neutral over the 30-40 year forest harvesting cycle.  The greenhouse gas benefits of energy from biomass harvested from sustainably managed forests has been recognized repeatedly by an abundance of studies, agencies, institutions, legislation and rules around the world, including guidance from the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the reporting protocols of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.  The US EPA has recently gone on record to state that biomass-derived power generation is a carbon reduction technology.  In addition, the EPA states "We anticipate that states likely will consider biomass-derived fuels in energy production as a way to mitigate the CO2 emissions attributed to the energy sector and include them as part of their plans to meet the emission reduction requirements..."