North Fork Community Power Forest Bioenergy Facility Demonstration

Powering the community's electricity needs using forest biomass waste

Resiliency, Health, and Safety Forest Biomass

The Watershed Research and Training Center

Recipient

Hayfork, CA

Recipient Location

2nd

Senate District

2nd

Assembly District

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$4,220,575

Amount Spent

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Active

Project Status

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Project Update

The project is close to completing construction of the entire biomass power plant and preparing for subsequent commercial operation. Estimated at over 99 percent complete as of the end December 2025, all major structures, equipment and instrumentation are fully installed or constructed including the EQTEC gasification and gas cleanup system, engine-generators and associated equipment, and control and staff building. The project is in the final stages of completing functional tests of every component (known as cold commissioning) such as testing of the plant’s human-machine interface system and electrical distribution system. The project also commenced limited tests under real operating conditions, with full hot commissioning pending completion of Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s (PG&E) final onsite inspection to allow the plant to export power to the grid. A few other remaining works relate to the site such as cleanup, paving roads and installing gates and fences, commissioning service of air compressors, and completing plant environmental health and safety policies & procedures and Maintenance Management System.

The Issue

Forest biomass-fueled bioenergy gasification projects have the potential to be more efficient and cleaner electricity generation than direct combustion systems and can reduce the risk of forest fires and pollutant emissions. The electricity generation is anticipated to be economical in the long-term but is dependent on the ability of developers to achieve necessary operating hours. Due to lack of sufficient data and the absence of commercially operating forest gasification facilities, there is a need to conduct demonstrations and collect technical data that will help advance the economic viability of this technology and attract private investment.

Project Innovation

The goal of the North Fork Forest Bioenergy project is to demonstrate at least one megawatt (MW) forest waste bioenergy gasification-to-electricity facility. The biomass gasification facility is targeted to be a commercial-scale, community-based facility capable of accepting and processing wood waste from forest management that would otherwise create wildfire and air quality challenges, and generating renewable grid-connected electricity. Once the gasification is fully installed and operational, the project team will investigate critical performance parameters and evaluate individual components and protocols to improve performance and reduce operating costs.

Project Goals

Construct, commercially operate, and evaluate the performance of novel thermochemical woody biomass conversion system.

Project Benefits

This project is deploying a commercial-ready gasification technology that has not been previously tested and demonstrated in California. Combined with the producer gas cleanup system, automation and control, and optimized operation, this innovative system will prove distributed, woody biomass-fueled electricity to be economically feasible and capable of operating for 7,000 hours a year. The project will be grid-connected and will provide immediate benefits, including increased renewable generation capacity, expanded technical resources, and community environmental, wildfire, and economic development benefits.

Affordability

Siting these plants near the forest reduces the cost of hauling biomass from the forest and reduces biomass electricity costs below those of larger, traditional biomass power plants.

Economic Development

This plant will be built and operated by local contractors. In some cases, workers may even be trained to work on site. The plant is owned in part by a local community development council, which will receive profits from a purchase power agreement (PPA) and reinvest the profits in the community. Additionally, the power plant will anchor a biomass utilization campus that will expand to include other forest products.

Environmental Sustainability

Use of forest restoration by-product will improve air quality over open burning and reduce wildfire risk. Additionally, Placer County Air Pollution Control District estimated emissions reductions of 60 percent carbon dioxide (CO2) and 3% methane (CH4) in direct combustion systems with emission control over the pile and burn system, and these emissions could be further reduced by gasification.

Consumer Appeal

Providing jobs, protecting homes, enhancing the functioning forest ecosystems, increasing biodiversity, and decreasing wildfire threat are all benefits that this power plant will be able to promote to increase consumer appeal.

Energy Security

This project will rely on California-grown fuel and operates as a baseload plant. Development will also require PG&E and plant owners to invest in the local substation. The availability of local bioenergy power plant that is connected to and supplying power to the grid will increase energy security for the rural community.

Key Project Members

Subrecipients

TSS Consultants

The Regents of the University of California, Merced

Phoenix Energy

Yosemite Sequoia Resource Conservation and Development Council

North Fork Community Power LLC

Darlington Legal Services

Kamalesh Doshi

Match Partners