Biomass bids for Glacier High due Friday

District seeks salvaged wood to heat new school

Got wood?

Glacier High School wants it - for the right price.

Kalispell school officials opted to install a biomass boiler with natural-gas heat backup in the new high school to support the local timber economy and to save energy and money. The boiler is expected to pay for itself in one year, based on the difference in cost between natural gas and the biofuel.

Now they need the wood to feed it.

Bids on the woody biomass fuel supply are due at 2 p.m. this Friday.

The first loads are to be delivered in time to heat the building this fall and winter as construction crews complete the interior finish work. About 1,000 green tons, averaging 40 percent moisture content, will be burned this year.

That doubles to 2,000 tons next year when the school opens for classes.

A $240,000 grant from Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, with a 50 percent local match, helped buy the boiler.

One stipulation of the grant is that the school must get half its fuel for the first two years from slash piles and other fuel-reduction sources, as long as it can round up willing suppliers.

So far, officials say, the interest from local loggers and clean-up crews has been pretty healthy.

Wood waste for the biomass fuel can come from either deciduous or conifer trees. Here are the basic specifications:

Desired size of the wood is as small as 1/16th-inch cubed, or as big as 2 1/2 inch by 2 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch. Up to half of it can be 4 inch by 4 inch by 1/2 inch. No sander dust or ultra-fine "wood flour."

Moisture content should be between 25 and 35 percent, but no more than 45 percent. A sliding scale of payment incentives encourages lower moisture, up to 28 percent of the price per ton added for wood between 10 and 14 percent. There are penalties for high-moisture wood.

A gas/diesel fuel price escalation surcharge is offered.

No paint, nails, glues, rocks, dirt or other non-combustibles.

Efforts must be made to obtain at least half the wood from logging slash or other logging residues, or from brush, trees, limbs and tops removed to reduce wildfire risk or improve forest health. Documentation can be required. This applies for the first two years.

The school's fuel storage bin must be kept at least one-quarter full, an amount equal to about 14.5 tons of wood. It must be filled to capacity each Friday. Expected daily maximum use is 20 tons a day, or 150 tons a week

A 200-ton reserve supply must be established by Dec. 1 this year, and a 500-ton reserve must be in place by Dec. 1 in subsequent years. This ensures fuel will be available in case inclement weather or road conditions make it impossible to get into the woods. Reserves would be off-site.

The school's storage area accommodates walking-floor chip vans, pneumatic systems or conveyor-belt deliveries. It does not work with dump-style deliveries, but bidders may propose a method to accommodate them.

Bids must be submitted directly to the Office District Clerk, c/o Todd Watkins, Central Office/Administrative Building, 233 First Ave. E., Kalispell, MT 59901. Faxed bids will not be accepted. Bids must be sealed and plainly marked "Biomass Fuel Supply Bid."

For more information call Chuck Cassidy, director of facilities and transportation, 751-3404.

A recommendation on which bid to accept, if any, is expected at the school board's Oct. 10 meeting, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Flathead High School library.