Ninth Wood Bio Conference Gathers Steam For Atlanta

Organizers of the ninth Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo have released the first wave of speakers for the event, which will be held April 14-15, 2026 at the Omni Atlanta Hotel at Centennial Park in Atlanta, Ga.

Held every other year, the Wood Bio Conference is hosted by Wood Bioenergy magazine.

“A ton is happening in the wood-to-energy sector worldwide,” comments Rich Donnell, co-chairman of the conference and editor-in-chief of Wood Bioenergy. “Since our last conference in 2024, Enviva has been ‘born again’ so to speak, but at the same time the United Kingdom has constrained Drax’s pellet-fired electricity capabilities. Momentum continues to grow for biochar and torrefied pellets as a complement to coal-firing, especially with a coal-friendly U.S. president. And the relevance of the industry has expanded into climate solutions.”

Speakers signing on include Kyle Freres, vice president of Oregon-based Freres. His company has operated small-scale cogeneration for years and now there’s a pathway to developing biochar products and markets.

Scott Bax is executive vice president & chief operating officer at Enviva. After experiencing a bankruptcy in the spring of 2024, Enviva appears to have righted the ship. Bax is highly respected worldwide for his work in the wood-to-energy industry, including leadership roles with Pinnacle Renewable Energy, Peak Renewables and CM Biomass.

Also on tap is Bill Strauss, president of FutureMetrics, and the world’s most renown consultant to the industry. Strauss is the foremost advocate for repurposing U.S. coal-fueled power stations to use sustainably sourced wood pellets, which is more important than ever as UK wood pellet imports decline and the need for green power to support massive new datacenters increases.

Amanda Lang, president & COO of Forisk Consulting, is an expert on timber market dynamics and how these impact wood demand and timber supply moving forward.

Taylor Fitts is vice president, communications and external affairs for the U.S. Industrial Pellet Assn. (USIPA). The U.S. wood pellet industry is entering a new chapter, expanding its relevance from a reliable renewable fuel to a strategic climate solution across energy, industry, and carbon removal value chains.

Pete Madden is the President and CEO of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. Madden has worked in the forest industry for more than 30 years in land management, procurement, business development, and renewable energy. U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, established in 2006, works collaboratively with the public and private sectors to advance sustainable change for the health of the nation’s working forests and forest-dependent communities.

Harold Arnold, president of Fram Renewable Fuels, which operates industrial wood pellet facilities in the Southeast, once again provides a big-picture view of the global wood-to-energy industry, including a renewed and more practical emphasis on torrefaction.

Co-Chairman Donnell says a second wave of speakers will be announced soon, and that as usual the conference will include sessions on new equipment and technologies that serve the wood-to-energy industry.

Approximately 25 speakers and 50 exhibitors participate in the conference, which immediately precedes the Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE), which is hosted by Panel World magazine.

Get On The Bio Bus

Indeed Arnold and his Fram operations will host a bus tour on the second day of the conference. Following breakfast, the bus will depart the Omni Atlanta Hotel and head to Fram’s Hazlehurst Wood Pellets facility in Hazlehurst, Ga. After touring and discussion there, the gathering will reload and head to Fram’s new Telfair Forest Products torrefaction facility at Lumber City, Ga. Representatives from Fram and TSI will also address the bus riders en route. The bus returns to the Omni that evening.

Safety With Pellets

 In conjunction with the Wood Bio Conference, FutureMetrics, featuring Bill Strauss and the legendary John Swaan, will host and lead a workship entitled: “Safe Wood Pellet Storage—Preventing, Detecting, and Managing Self-Heating Incidents.”

When wood pellet fuel is stored in domes, silos or warehouses, there is a significant risk of “self-heating.” If undetected and unmitigated, catastrophic outcomes are likely. This workshop will discuss what causes self-heating, how to minimize the risks (including how to measure the reactivity of the pellets being placed in storage), and what to do (and not to do!) if there is an incident underway.

Attendee registration to the conference and for the optional tour and safety events will be available beginning December 10 on the conference web site here