North Carolina's renewables lobby and trade group is countering Republican attempts to roll back green energy subsidies with a new report painting the state's current policies in a GOP-friendly light as job creators and revenue generators.

Some Republicans consider subsidies for solar farms and other renewables to be boondoggles that raise power bills for households and businesses. State legislature is likely to consider a number of bills to scale back such subsidies, including an expected bill to freeze the amount of solar, wind and biomass power that electric utilities have to add to the state's power grid.

The N.C. Sustainable Energy Association announced a report Monday saying that since 2007, programs that encourage or mandate renewables and conservation have created 21,162 jobs and generated $1.7 billion in economic benefit for the state. N.C. SEA warns that those jobs and revenues will go to neighboring states if North Carolina abandons its policies to promote green economy jobs.

"Clean energy is creating thousands of jobs, fostering innovation, and attracting billions in private investment to North Carolina," said Betsy McCorkle, N.C. SEA's government affairs director.

N.C. SEA brought in some reputable names for its effort to preserve policies favorable to its members. The report was conducted by RTI International in Research Triangle Park and La Capra Associates in Boston, Massachusetts.

A state court has said that North Carolina's power plants can burn whole trees harvested for fuel, and count the lumber toward their mandate to use green energy resources.

The N.C. Court of Appeals' ruling resolves a dispute between Duke Energy and two organizations: the Environmental Defense Fund and the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association.

The two nonprofit groups had contended that letting power companies harvest trees for fuel, rather than using wood scraps and logging debris, would open the way to clear-cutting forests and other environmentally irresponsible practices.

But the appellate court upheld an October ruling by the N.C. Utilities Commission that said the state's 2007 energy law did not specify which kind of wood qualifies as biomass.

A Maryland green energy company said today it would build its second facility in North Carolina to manufacture wood pellets as a fuel source.

Enviva will create 62 jobs at its planned manufacturing facility in Garysburg, about 90 miles northeast of Raleigh. The company will also invest $60 million in the project.

Enviva stands to receive $2.1 million in state and local incentives for the project.

The jobs created will pay an average annual wage of $38,484, more than $10,000 a year above the Northampton County average.

Most of Enviva's biomass fuel is intended for export to Europe.

The Garysburg facility will be the company's second in the state. Enviva is also constructing a wood pellet facility in Ahoskie, about 120 miles east of Raleigh.

Enviva, a biomass fuel producer based in Richmond, Va., said today it plans to build a new wood pellet manufacturing plant in Hertford County that will eventually employ 53 people.

The company expects to invest $52 million over the next three years to convert the former Georgia Pacific lumber site in Ahoskie, about 120 miles northeast of Raleigh.

Enviva will receive a grant worth up to $270,000 from the One North Carolina fund.

The plant is expected to produce 330,000 tons annually for Enviva clients in the U.S. and Europe and the United States.
 
The average annual wage for the new jobs will be $38,736 not including benefits.  The Hertford County average is $27,456.

“With its abundant biomass resources, close proximity to ports, and its wealth of skilled labor, Hertford County was the perfect choice of location for this project," said John Keppler, Chairman and CEO of Enviva.

The state's 2007 energy law is a work in progress that requires resolving a number of thorny issues, such as whether chipped whole trees qualify as a renewable fuel source.

The state legislature three years ago required power companies to increase their reliance on alternative fuels, clean energy and energy conservation to meet customer demand. North Carolina became the first state in the Southeast to pass a renewable energy portfolio standard.

Under the law, power companies in the state buy electricity and renewable credit from small independent generators that use the sun, wood, animal waste and garbage as fuel.

The N.C. Utilities Commission, which enforces and monitors the state energy law, has already approved a renewable energy facility in Wake County that generates electricity from ethanol that's derived from organic waste.

The commission has also approved a renewable facility that has converted a pair of coal-burning power plants to burn a cleaner blend of coal mixed with wood waste and automobile tires. The portion of electricity that comes form rubber and organic material qualifies as biomass and can be used to toward the renewable energy mandate.

But the subject is so complicated that utilities commission has has to open more than a dozen case dockets to clear up misunderstandings and define disputed terms.

UNC-Chapel Hill has pledged to phase out the use of coal by 2020.

This will require a significant change in how the university produces much of the power it uses to heat and chill the campus. 

The goal is to move eventually to biomass - dried wood, essentially. But first, the university needs to test its boilers to make sure they can handle this new fuel.

The change would move UNC-CH closer to its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050.

Here's the story.

Top officials with Novozymes are touting a breakthrough that could reduce the cost of ethanol and make it more competitive with traditional gasoline.

The Danish company, which employs more than 465 people at its North American headquarters in Franklinton, is the world's largest producer of enzymes used to make a variety of products, including ethanol.

The new enzymes that Novozymes announced at the National Ethanol Conference in Florida this morning will allow the biofuel industry to produce ethanol from woodchips, wheat straw and other biomass for less than $2 per gallon.

"Biofuel producers now have a critical component to turn agriculture waste into a competitive alternative to gasoline," said CEO Steen Rissgaard, in a prepared statement.

Progress Energy wants to diversify its fuel resources to generate more electricity from wood scraps.

The Raleigh-based power company this morning put out the word to energy developers to submit proposals for building a small wood-burning power plant that would generate between 45 and 75 megawatts.

Progress would like to have the plant in operation by 2013 to help meet the requirements of a state law that calls for more green energy. The company will evaluate the proposals based on cost and other factors.