Microgrids for Humboldt

Oct 19

Matthew Marshall, executive director of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority, speaks about the potential for renewable-energy microgrids to extend and transform grid power in Humboldt County.

ISF’s interest in microgrids is twofold: making energy from biomass in the form of excess forest material and resolving PG&E’s determination not to upgrade electric transmission to Southern Humboldt. To our dismay, Matthew reveals that generally speaking, biomass power development is not currently an economically viable alternative in the U.S., but he describes the local electric power landscape and its potential for decentralization.

Editorial note: All Power Labs in Berkeley supplies a 25–kW Power Pallet for making electricity from small, uniform woody material. Their main markets are non-industrialized countries and Italy, which has a progressive program of Feed-In Tariffs.

Gray Shaw

Microgrids for Humboldt

Pony the Gyppo Logger

Green Burial

The Institute for Sustainable Forestry (ISF) was formed in 1991 to promote sustainable forest management that contributes to the long-term ecological, economic, and social well-being of forest-based communities in the Pacific Northwest.