February 3, 2011
BY Ron Kotrba
The U.S. DOE’s Biomass Program kicked off its biennial peer review process for biomass and biorefining projects receiving federal grants and loan guarantees.
Brian Duff, the Biomass Program’s chief engineer and acting deployment team leader, told me that the process is really all about making sure everyone is on the same page with respect to the progress and what’s expected of the funded projects, as well as it being an opportunity to identify any gaps in the Biomass Program's technology portfolio.
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The review process is also a time to assess the management of projects and the way they are conducted.
It’s a public review process so companies review their projects’ statuses and schedules, but Duff said given the public nature of the forum, there’s no extreme depth to discussion regarding technologies, techniques or processes.
Duff said there was a real good turnout both at the review process itself, and from those who attended the webinars. He said, so far, things have gone as anticipated, with no real unexpected findings.
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Peer reviews of the Biomass Program’s five platforms will carry on until June, after which a major report will be issued approximately three months later.
“The one common problem these projects say they are encountering is the well-advertised issues regarding financing today,” Duff said.
The process is hosted by the DOE’s Biomass Program but the reviews are done at arm’s length, meaning there’s a steering committee formed, and that committee picks the reviewers, who are industry people, consultants and even national laboratory personnel.