U.S. Endowment Launches Funding Opportunity to Assess Closed Wood Products Facilities for Bioenergy Development DEADLINE August 6, 2026

June 16, 2026

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(U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities/Crawford/EIN Presswire) New initiative offers up to $500,000 to test the renewable energy and economic potential of idled industrial sites in forest-dependent regions -- The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities today launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) to assess the feasibility of repurposing closed wood products manufacturing facilities, including pulp and paper mills, for bioenergy. The initiative will make available up to $500,000 in pre-development funding to support one or two facilities across the United States.

Across the country, idled wood products facilities have left behind industrial infrastructure, utility connections and skilled workforce capacity at a time when forest-dependent regions are urgently seeking new economic anchors. Since 2015, more than 40 U.S. pulp and paper mills have closed, removing roughly 60 million green tons of annual wood demand from rural communities.

The Endowment’s market initiative seeks to determine whether these sites can be reactivated as biopower generation or biofuel production facilities, creating new markets for low-value wood fiber and supplying renewable energy to a growing economy.

“Working forests depend on working markets,” said Pete Madden, president and CEO of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. “When a mill closes, a rural community loses a piece of its economic future, and the low-value wood that mill used to buy, has nowhere to go. These sites still hold the infrastructure, grid connections, and workforce that bioenergy needs. We are funding this work to show if these sites can transition to a biopower or biofuel production facility.”

What the Funding Will Support - Selected projects will conduct pre-development assessments equivalent to a Front-End Loading Level 2 (FEL-2) analysis, producing the technical, economic and market data needed to support investment and development decisions. Analyses will address:

- Site-level due diligence and engineering feasibility
- Economic and financial viability
- Infrastructure requirements and financing structures
- Project risks and mitigation strategies
- Community and workforce considerations

Funding will be structured as a Program-Related Investment (PRI) or a grant, repayable if the project proceeds to construction financing or forgiven as a grant if the project does not advance.

Who Should Apply - Eligible applicants include U.S. based private companies or other organizations with proven experience in energy project development, wood products manufacturing, data center development, or closely related infrastructure projects. Applicants must demonstrate site control or authorization to evaluate the facility and should be able to show that the project can realistically advance to implementation.

Key dates are:

- RFP Posted: June 15, 2026
- Questions Due: July 17, 2026
- Responses Posted: July 24, 2026
- Proposals Due: August 6, 2026, by 5:00 PM EDT
- Contracting and Project Initiation: September 2026

Proposals must be submitted via the Endowment’s online application portal at https://usendowment.my.site.com/grants. Full application details and the complete RFP are available at www.usendowment.org/funding-opportunities.

About the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities is a not-for-profit public charity collaborating with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative, and enduring change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities. To learn more about the Endowment, please visit our website at www.usendowment.org. READ MORE

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Canada announces funding for pellet, bioenergy and biocarbon projects (Biomass Magazine)

Excerpt from Biomass Magazine:

Natural Resources Canada on June 3 awarded nearly $130 million to 56 projects that aim help advance transformation of the country’s forest sector. Projects focused on wood pellets, bioenergy and biocarbon are among those to receive funding.

According to the agency, the projects selected to receive funding will develop new low-carbon wood technologies, expand the use of mass timber in construction, support Indigenous participation and forest-sector businesses, increase manufacturers’ capacity to add value to wood products and help diversify Canada’s export markets.

The funding is related to the Canadian Forest Sector Transformation Task Force, which was launched in January 2026 with a mandate to promptly identify practical measures to transform and retool Canada’s forest sector. In conjunction with the funding announcement, the task force on June 3 released its final report outlining recommendations to stabilize the sector, alongside measures to modernize operations, attract private investment, expand the use of wood in construction, increase production of value-added wood products and diversify export markets.

Bioenergy projects selected to receive funding include:

Wood Pellet Association of Canada: $473,871 to assess export readiness for thermally treated pellets. The project will also validate demand, sustainability requirements and technical compatibility in priority markets such as the European Union and Japan and enhance international recognition of sustainable Canadian biomass.
Forest Enhancement Society of BC: $37 million to increase the use of low-value and residual forest fiber by supporting its collection, processing and transport to facilities that can convert it into useful products. By offsetting costs that currently limit its use, the effort will redirect fiber that would otherwise be burned toward applications such as pulp, bioenergy, pellet production and other secondary manufacturing. Working with industry, communities and Indigenous partners, the project will process and deliver large volumes of residual fiber while testing improved handling, logistics and end-use approaches.
Quebec Wood Export Bureau: $5.81 million to support the diversification of export markets for forest products, specifically in the softwood lumber, hardwood, flooring, wood construction and biomass energy sectors. The project will also aim to reduce trade, regulatory and environmental barriers in key markets, including the United Kingdom, the European Union, Mexico, Japan, Korea, China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
Innofibre – Centre d’innovation des produits cellulosiques: $266,900 to advance the use of wood-based biocarbon to reduce emissions in the metallurgical industry. It will advance industry decarbonization and evaluate available biocarbon technologies. The project will identify key risks, compare performance with conventional materials and propose practical measures to support integration into existing processes. These efforts will help position forest biomass as a low-carbon alternative for producing greener metals while creating new markets for forest residues and supporting a lower-carbon economy.
Xylo-carbone Inc.: $4.5 million to enable the use of forest biomass as a low-carbon alternative in high-temperature industrial processes by adapting existing pyrolysis processes to produce a biocarbon composite that can replace fossil coal in metallurgical applications, including silicon production. The project has the potential to replace up to 50,000 metric tons of fossil coal annually, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions while improving the use of underutilized forest biomass. It will also support the development of new bio-based products, strengthen collaboration across the forest and metallurgical sectors, and contribute to a lower-carbon economy.
Carbon Alpha Corp.: $2.5 million to advance carbon capture and storage at the MLTC Bioenergy Centre. Working in partnership with the Meadow Lake Tribal Council, the project focuses on the engineering and planning needed to integrate carbon capture technology into an existing bioenergy facility. By laying the technical groundwork for future implementation, the project will support the development of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) systems, which can enable low- and negative-emissions energy production. It will also strengthen Indigenous partnerships, support local employment opportunities and help position Canada for future investment in large-scale carbon management solutions.
Lake Nipigon Forest Management Inc.: $225,000 to complete a business study that focuses on cost estimates for equipment and development activities required to construct and operate a wood fiber bio-hub in Hurkett, Ontario. The bio-hub site is owned and operated by Lake Nipigon Forest Management Inc., which is an Indigenous-owned business composed of four economic development corporations from First Nation Communities that reside within the boundary of the Lake Nipigon Forest. This project supported work partnering with CHAR Technologies to jointly work toward commissioning and operating a wood processing facility that produces renewable natural gas and biocarbon.
Apitipi Anicinapek Nation: $267,500 for a project that focuses on business planning, partnership development, feedstock analysis, governance planning and feasibility activities to support the development of an Indigenous-led biochar and biocarbon facility utilizing forest biomass residuals in Northeastern Ontario. The project has evolved into ACT Biochar, a Nation-led clean technology initiative focused on sustainable forestry utilization, carbon reduction opportunities and long-term economic development.

A full list of awards is available on the Natural Resources Canada website. READ MORE