New Fund to Help Finance Modern Wood Heating Projects in New Hampshire
U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, Greenville, SCFor IMMEDIATE RELEASE (June 4, 2015)
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment), USDA Forest Service (USFS) and New Hampshire-based Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC (INRS) today announced the establishment of the New Hampshire T-RECs Enterprise Fund (T-REC Fund) to provide capital financing for community-scale wood heating projects.
The New Hampshire T-REC Fund is the first program funded under the Local Energy for American Fund (LEAF) joint-venture between the Endowment and USFS. LEAF identified New Hampshire as one of two states (with Oregon) to pilot creative finance programs for advanced heating systems that use sustainable wood biomass as fuel. The fund will be capitalized with an initial $750,000 investment and will build on New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) wood biomass heating incentives.
“A major obstacle to developing innovative solutions to conversion to wood-to-energy systems is capital. In New Hampshire we’ve found a way to leverage the RPS to create both creative financing and more importantly forest-based solutions that promise to improve the forest environment and rural economies across the state,” said Endowment President Carlton Owen.
INRS, a New Hampshire-based forestry and renewable energy consulting firm, will administer the program. ”We are excited to be working with the Endowment and the USFS on this effort.Through LEAF these two leading organizations have shown vision in trying something new that will help NH institutions and businesses reduce fossil fuel use while also reducing their carbon footprint and cost of heating. This is a win-win-win for sustainable heating NH buildings with alocal fuel,” said Charles Levesque, President of INRS.
The fund will be used to “capitalize” thermal renewable energy certificates for community-scalewood heating projects in schools, municipal buildings, institutions, and businesses. Under NH’sRPS program, building owners can receive thermal renewable energy certificates (T-RECs) based on heat output from qualifying renewable heating systems (wood, solar, geothermal). These certificates are then purchased by NH regulated utilities and retail electricity suppliers, thus providing a revenue source that creates incentives to develop additional renewable heating systems.
Instead of the traditional approach of receiving T-REC income after the project is built, the T-RECEnterprise Fund will “pre-purchase” future T-RECs for up to five years and provide project developers with much needed up-front cash to help lower capital cost thus addressing a major hurdle for deploying modern wood heating systems.
Once the project is built and generating T-RECs, the certificates will be sold, thus re-capitalizing the fund. By proving this finance program can generate a market return, program sponsors hope to attract private capital to grow and expand the fund for the future.
The T-RECs Enterprise Fund is now accepting applications and expects to begin funding projects in the coming months.
New Hampshire is the second most heating- oil-dependent state in the nation trailing only Maine. Throughout the state, commercial and institutional building owners are saving up to 50% on heating costs by switching to modern wood chip and pellet heating systems. More conversions would be happening were it not for the comparatively high initial capital cost to install the clean, efficient boilers. Once installed, however, wood fuel is much cheaper than most fossil fuel on a heat basis. Too, our energy dollars stay in the state as opposed to being “exported” to oilsuppliers.
The T-RECs Enterprise Fund has been endorsed by the NH Wood Energy Council, a non-profit public/private education and technical assistance program working to promote adoption of modern wood heating. Several members of the Council will serve in an advisory role to the T- RECs Enterprise Fund.
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For More Information Contact:
Michael Goergen, Vice President-Innovation 240-475-5741, michael@runslikeclock.work
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) is a not-for-profit public charity working collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic,transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests andforest-reliant communities – www.usendowment.org
Charlie Niebling, INRS, 603-965-5434, niebling@inrsllc.com
Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC – Founded in 1994, INRS is a full service consulting firm with expertise in a wide range of forestry, natural resource policy, and renewable energy issues and opportunities. Three partners, Charles Levesque, Eric Kingsley and Charles Niebling, maintain offices in Peterborough and Concord NH, and Portland ME. http://www.t-recsfund.org/
