The Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo announced the addition of two speakers to its lineup of keynoters.
Brad Worsley, president/CEO of Novo Power, and Carlton Owen, president & CEO of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, will speak at the event to be held April 5-6, 2016 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Worsley and Owen join earlier announced keynoters, including: John Keppler president and CEO, Enviva family of companies; Peter Madden, CEO, Drax Biomass; Brent Boyko, senior manager business development, Ontario Power Generation; Dr. Cormac O’Carroll, director, London office, Pöyry Management Consulting; and Dr. Richard Vlosky, director, Louisiana Forest Products Development Center.
Worsley will speak on Biomass Power in Arizona, and address the amazing resiliency of the Novo Power operation in Snowflake, Ariz. in relation to shifts in renewable power markets, the implementation of the largest forest restoration project ever undertaken by the Forest Service, and the optimism Novo Power maintains for biomass power in the state.
Carlton Owen will speak on Expanding the Forest Sector Tent: The Role of Wood-to-Energy. Since 1990 North America has lost more than 40% of its pulp and paper mills and a third of its sawmills. These losses reverberate through the one-third of the nation blanketed by forests where forest products manufacturing jobs have long been foundational to community stability and family-wage jobs. The sector has lost more than 500,000 jobs over the Great Recession. One of the few bright spots in recent years has been the emergence of the wood-to-energy sector, which has provided much needed jobs and markets for low-value wood and if America is to remain the wood basket of the world it must grow the range of sustainable products coming out of its forests.
In addition to the keynote talks, Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo will feature 40 technical presentations on a range of subjects in the wood pellet, biomass power, raw materials procurement and in-woods harvesting sectors. Seventy equipment companies will exhibit in the Grand Ballroom North.
The event is hosted by Wood Bioenergy magazine.