Gov. John Kitzhaber announced Thursday that Oregon won the nation’s first-ever grant to support a wood-energy cluster, a pilot project that will be developed with the U.S. Forest Service.
The $168,000 Forest Service grant will support a pilot project focused on developing biomass energy projects that will use waste from forest-thinning efforts to provide heat and power at schools, commercial buildings and mills.
The grant comes on the heels of the release of a draft biomass strategy plan for Oregon, completed by the state’s Forest Biomass Working Group. That plan, released for public comment this week, placed an emphasis on the potential for wood energy clusters around the state.
