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Operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC

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Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308

Biomass Resource Demand 

Characterization Study

Cooperative Research and 

Development Final Report

CRADA Number: CRD-11-436

NREL Technical Contact: Margaret Mann

CRADA Report

NREL/TP-6A20-63753

February 2015
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Cover Photos: (left to right) photo by Pat Corkery, NREL 16416, photo from SunEdison, NREL 17423, photo by Pat Corkery, NREL 

16560, photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL 17613, photo by Dean Armstrong, NREL 17436, photo by Pat Corkery, NREL 17721.

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This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Cooperative Research and Development Final Report

In accordance with Requirements set forth in Article XI.A(3) of the CRADA document, this document is 

the final CRADA report, including a list of Subject Inventions, to be forwarded to the Office of Science 

and Technical Information as part of the commitment to the public to demonstrate results of federally 

funded research.

CRADA Number: CRD-11-436

CRADA Title: Biomass Resource Demand Characterization Study

Parties to the Agreement: Chevron Technology Ventures

Joint Work Statement Funding Table showing DOE commitment:

Estimated Costs NREL Shared Resources

Year 1 $ 00.00

Year 2 $ 00.00

Year 3 $ 00.00

TOTALS $ 00.00

Abstract of CRADA work:

Competing demands for U.S. biomass resources and resulting impacts on regional feedstock availability 

could have a significant impact on the ability of the biofuels industry to transition to lower cost 

feedstocks, such as wood, agricultural residues, and energy crops, as well as on the ability of U.S. electric 

utilities and consumers to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and transition to lower carbonfootprint sources of electricity. Promulgation of regulations that place a cost on CO2 emissions from 

fossil fuels will also impact this situation as biomass to power applications become increasingly cost 

competitive. This increased competition for biomass feedstocks could create technical and economic 

risks for the Government, industry, and investors, and has the potential to impede commercialization of 

bio-energy in the U.S. at a meaningful scale.

Summary of Research Results:

To better enable analysts to evaluate the opportunities for production of biofuels and biopower from 

domestic bioenergy resources, a web application tool, known as the Biomass Demand Atlas (BDA) in the 

OpenCarto platform was developed: http://maps-test.nrel.gov/bd_atlas. In addition to being able to 

display data layers for biomass resources, existing and planned bioenergy plants, fossil-based power 

plants and petroleum refineries, fuel prices, and vehicle densities, BDA geographically assesses the 

potential amount of bio-power and biofuels that can be generated at different capacity factors and 

feedstock costs.

For dynamic analysis, the BDA draws from the calculation engine for the Competition for the Uses of 

Biomass (CUB) model. CUB allows users to vary capital costs, policy impacts on feedstock and carbon 
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prices, feedstock yields, and demand projections. Results include the total demand of different biomass 

feedstocks, the average feedstock price, end-product price estimates, and the total amount of electricity 

and fuels demand that are satisfied. Allowing users to vary the inputs to their own corporate and strategic 

inputs increases the value to the funding parties. BDA allows users to save their specific scenarios and 

export results into Excel for further analysis.

Subject Inventions Listing: None

Report Date: 1/9/15

Responsible Technical Contact at Alliance/NREL: Margaret Mann

This document contains NO confidential, protectable, or proprietary information.