The U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration has announced its Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee will hold a virtual opening meeting on Dec. 3. The meeting is the first of REEEAC’s current charter term.
REEEAC is an advisory committee that provides the Department of Commerce with advice from the private sector on the development and administration of programs and policies to expand the export competitiveness of U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency products and services.
The committee’s work on renewable energy is to focus on technologies, equipment, and services to generate electricity, produce heat, and power vehicles from renewable sources such as biomass, solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal and hydrogen. For the purposes of the REEEAC, covered goods and services do not include vehicles, feedstocks for biofuels, or energy efficiency as it relates to consumer goods or buildings. However, non-fossil fuels that reduce carbon consumption, such as liquid biofuels and wood pellets, are included.
REEEAC was first established in July 2010. The committee was re-chartered most recently for a two-year term in May 2024. During the Dec. 3 meeting, REEEAC will conduct organizational activities and hold discussions on topics of interest.
The committee currently includes 28 members, including those representing U.S. pellet producer Lignetics and renewable fuel trade groups Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association.
Additional information on the Dec. 3 meeting is available on the Federal Register website.
Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel in August reached 155,479 tons at an average price of $229.48 per ton. Exports in August reached 739,552 tons at an average price of $187.41 per ton.
Inventories of premium/standard pellets fell to 345,340 tons in August, down from 359,631 tons in July. Inventories of utility pellets fell to 530,049 tons in August, down from 539,622 tons in July.
Data gathered by the EIA shows that total U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity reached 13.43 million tons in August, with all of that capacity listed as currently operating or temporarily not in operation. Capacity included 1.97 million tons in the East, 10.67 million tons in the South, and 797,200 tons in the West.
