Environmental Wood Supply

Environmental Wood Supply

Biomass in Saint Paul: Local Fuel, Sustainable Solution

In 2003, Ever-Green developed Environmental Wood Supply to supply biomass fuel for St. Paul Cogeneration, which provides heat to District Energy St. Paul.

Wood Waste as Fuel

Environmental Wood Supply works with cities, counties, private land owners, and businesses that need to manage wood waste by processing the wood waste into chips. The waste can result from storm damage, emerald ash borer infestation, tree trimming, habitat restoration, and processing that leaves behind a low-grade wood byproduct.

The wood chips are then used as biomass to fuel the combined heat and power facility that supplies waste heat to District Energy St. Paul, and generates 153,000 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity each year.

Using renewable biomass as fuel reduces carbon, provides a service to local communities, and leverages a Minnesota resource, displacing fossil fuels and keeping energy investments local.

In their time in operation, St. Paul Cogeneration and Environmental Wood Supply have been a primary solution for the management of the region’s tree waste. In recent years, we have processed tree waste from over 115 communities in 22 counties. As emerald ash borer spreads, we have seen a significant increase in infested tree waste. In the past year, around 50% of the Twin Cities metro tree waste processed by Environmental Wood Supply was from emerald ash borer infested trees removed from public and private lands.

Ever-Green’s Role

Ever-Green developed Environmental Wood Supply alongside St. Paul Cogeneration to increase fuel source reliability, increase fuel efficiency, and provide an environmentally sound energy source to the local electric provider as well as the heating customers. Ever-Green leads the operations, maintenance, and management of the business.