Feasibility studies, fuel-supply assessment, boiler-selection guidance, and owner's-representative services for straw-fired, wood-chip-fired, and waste-to-energy plants — grounded in a Danish energy-engineering career and years spent selling waste-to-energy power plants worldwide for Babcock & Wilcox.
A feasibility study for a biomass or waste-to-energy plant exists to answer one question before serious capital moves: will the fuel actually be there, in the quantity and quality the plant needs, for the life of the asset — and does everything downstream of that fuel supply (the boiler, the permits, the offtake) actually pencil against it. That means quantifying the available feedstock within an economic transport radius, not just the number a landowner or agricultural cooperative quotes on the phone; checking seasonal and year-to-year variability in supply, since a plant sized for a good harvest year starves in a bad one; and screening the emissions and permitting pathway early, because an air-permit condition discovered after equipment is ordered is one of the most expensive mistakes a biomass project can make.
The study also has to size the site itself for the fuel it's committing to — fuel storage acreage, covered versus open storage, ash handling and disposal, and water availability for cooling if the plant includes one — and put an order-of-magnitude capital-cost range and offtake structure (a power purchase agreement, a heat customer, or both) in front of the sponsor before EPC bidding starts. Skipping any one of these pieces doesn't make the project cheaper; it just moves the discovery of the problem to a point where it's far more expensive to fix.
Straw and wood chip are both biomass, but they do not behave the same way in a boiler, and a fuel-supply assessment has to drive the boiler selection rather than the other way around. Straw carries meaningfully higher chlorine, silica, and alkali content than wood chip, which pushes toward slagging and fouling on boiler surfaces and accelerated high-temperature corrosion on superheater tubing if the boiler design and grate technology aren't chosen with straw specifically in mind. Wood chip is comparatively forgiving of standard grate and combustion technology, but its moisture content swings widely with harvest timing, storage method, and species mix, and that moisture swing has to be designed for in the combustion and drying system, not discovered after commissioning.
Getting the fuel-to-boiler match right is the single decision that most determines whether a plant runs at its rated output for twenty-plus years or spends its life fighting unplanned outages, tube failures, and derated capacity. That's the judgment a fuel-supply assessment and boiler-selection review exist to bring to the table before a boiler is specified, not after.
A developer or municipality evaluating a biomass or waste-to-energy plant is usually not staffed to read an EPC contractor's bid the way the EPC contractor itself would read it — an owner's-representative engagement puts that same reading ability on the owner's side of the table. During permitting, that means tracking the air-permit and environmental-review timeline against the project schedule, flagging where a jurisdiction's requirements diverge from what the fuel-supply and boiler-selection work assumed, and making sure the permit application reflects the actual fuel and combustion technology rather than a placeholder spec from an early study.
During EPC contractor selection, the work is comparing bids for what's actually included — boiler warranty terms, fuel-handling and ash-handling scope, performance guarantees tied to the specific fuel (not a generic biomass spec), and the commissioning and performance-test protocol that determines when the plant is deemed to have met contract — against what's quietly excluded or assumed. That review is worth the most before a contract is signed, when a gap is still cheap to negotiate rather than expensive to litigate.
Randolph Scott Bell holds a B.Sc. in Engineering from Aalborg University, Denmark, and built a Danish energy career across waste-to-energy and biomass boiler plants, heat-pump and ventilation product development, and insulation equipment before selling waste-to-energy power plants worldwide for Babcock & Wilcox (Poland) — a role built entirely on understanding what a plant sponsor actually needs to evaluate before committing capital to a boiler and an EPC contract.
That background now sits alongside two credentials earned since returning to Florida: RESNET Certified HERS Rater (RTIN 4516301) and LEED Accredited Professional, plus an active Florida Certified General Contractor license (CGC1528750). The combination is what this offer rests on: energy-systems engineering judgment from a Danish industrial career, a licensed contractor's eye for permitting and construction-side risk, and no claim beyond what that combination actually supports.
Every project starts from a different point — some sponsors need a feasibility study from a standing start, others already have a fuel-supply agreement in hand and need boiler-selection guidance, and others are past feasibility entirely and need an owner's representative through permitting and EPC bidding. Call to discuss where your project stands and what level of engagement it actually needs; there's no fixed-price package here, because a feasibility study and a multi-year owner's-representative engagement through commissioning are not the same scope of work.
Feasibility, fuel supply, boiler selection, or owner's-representative work through permitting and EPC selection — call and describe where the project stands.
It quantifies available feedstock within an economic transport radius, checks seasonal and year-to-year supply variability, screens the emissions and permitting pathway early, sizes the site for fuel storage and ash handling, and puts an order-of-magnitude capital-cost range and offtake structure in front of the sponsor before EPC bidding starts.
Straw carries higher chlorine, silica, and alkali content than wood chip, pushing toward slagging-tolerant grate design and corrosion-resistant superheater materials. Wood chip is more forgiving of standard combustion technology, but its moisture content swings with harvest timing and storage, and that swing has to be designed into the drying and combustion-air system from the start.
Tracks the air-permit and environmental-review timeline against the project schedule, flags where a jurisdiction's requirements diverge from what the fuel-supply and boiler-selection work assumed, and makes sure the permit application reflects the actual fuel and combustion technology rather than a placeholder specification from an early study.
Compares EPC bids for what's actually included — boiler warranty terms, fuel- and ash-handling scope, performance guarantees tied to the specific fuel rather than a generic biomass spec, and the commissioning and performance-test protocol — against what's quietly excluded or assumed, before the contract is signed.
No. This is consulting, owner's-representative, feasibility, and EPC-advisory work, grounded in a Danish energy-engineering career and years spent selling waste-to-energy power plants worldwide for Babcock & Wilcox (Poland). It is not a construction or EPC-execution offer.
A B.Sc. in Engineering from Aalborg University, Denmark, followed by a Danish energy career across waste-to-energy and biomass boiler plants, heat-pump and ventilation product development, and insulation equipment, before selling waste-to-energy power plants worldwide for Babcock & Wilcox (Poland).
RESNET Certified HERS Rater (RTIN 4516301) and LEED Accredited Professional status reflect a working discipline of measuring energy performance rather than guessing at it — the same discipline a fuel-supply and boiler-selection review applies at plant scale, now combined with an active Florida Certified General Contractor license (CGC1528750) for the permitting and construction-side judgment an owner's representative needs.
Yes. Straw-fired plants carry fuel-chemistry challenges — chlorine, silica, and alkali content — that a fuel-supply assessment and boiler-selection review need to address specifically, rather than treating straw as interchangeable with wood chip.
Yes. A municipality weighing a waste-to-energy facility against its solid-waste stream needs the same independent, engineering-trained feasibility read as a private developer, often ahead of a bond issue or procurement process where elected boards and staff want a second opinion before committing public funds.
Feasibility and owner's-representative consulting is available for projects in Florida and elsewhere in the United States. The Florida Certified General Contractor license (CGC1528750) is a state certification, and the underlying feasibility, fuel-supply, and boiler-selection expertise is engineering judgment that isn't tied to a single jurisdiction.
It depends entirely on scope — a feasibility study, a boiler-selection review, and a multi-year owner's-representative engagement through permitting and commissioning are different commitments. Call (561) 779-3213 to discuss the project and get a straight read on what it would take.