The PFI hits the road. Mid-March found the Pellet Fuels Institute team and board on the road for back-to-back industry events and conferences. Our spring board meeting was held at the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Expo in Dallas where we also hosted our Breakfast & Biomass program. During this short program we were thrilled to be joined by representatives from the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, Hearth & Home Technologies, Coastal Farm and Ranch, Energex Wood Pellets, and Danson’s. In just 90 minutes we were able to share with our attendees some insights about the heating season that is just now winding down, where things stand with the ongoing NSPS amendment and rulemaking proceedings, what we learned during the PFI’s social media beta test and what the potential might be for the exploding pellet grill and smoker market. Many of our members flew directly from Dallas to Savannah, Georgia for the International Biomass Conference & Expo. This conference throws a very large tent over the entire biomass industry and wood pellet discussions take place alongside presentations about anaerobic digesters, advanced biofuels, stand-alone biomass power units and much more. The show kicked off with an association roundtable featuring representatives from the U.S. Industrial Wood Pellet Association, Biomass Thermal Energy Council, Biomass Power Association, American Biogas Council, the Renewable Natural Gas Coalition and the PFI. I was proud to report on the PFI’s focused efforts to grow the size of our market one stove at a time.

On to Hershey. With these important associate events behind us, we now set our sights on our own event, the PFI Annual Conference scheduled for June 5-7 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I’m anticipating our event this year will be our most successful conference in years. Hershey is nicely located to create short travel days for most of our members and I’m optimistic that we’ll have a strong drive-in contingent from the many producers within 350 miles of Hershey. If you haven’t already registered for the event AND booked your hotel rooms, please do so now. Our agenda seeks to answer the biggest challenges and opportunities facing our industry. After a year that kept our producer members on their toes juggling tight fiber inventories and strong demand, I’m looking forward to the discussions.

One more word on visibility. In my last Pellet Wire column I outlined the challenges presented to our industry by the increasingly limited amount of information we have about annual pellet appliance sales figures, the ways in which those appliances are used, the number of pellet grills and smokers that are sold each year and the reasons consumers choose towards and away from pellet fuels for heating and cooking. Between now and our annual conference we’ll be ramping up our efforts to work with stove manufacturers, our colleagues and friends at the HPBA, retailers and the EIA to bring the facts and figures side of this business in to greater focus. I had many of our members approach me over the last two weeks, assuring me that the need for data they can be confident is accurate is a high priority right now.

—Tim Portz
Executive Director