Several years ago, CERTs teamed up with the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI ) to created the Minnesota Biomass Exchange. When we were approached by Kevin Triemstra with the offer to make the project bigger, brighter, better and more user-friendly, we thought about it for about 2 seconds and said “sure!” We caught up with Kevin Triemstra recently to talk about the Minneapolis Biomass Exchange.
The Interview:
Joel: Tell me how the website came about.
Kevin: The website came about as a way to really push the technology envelope over the original AURI/CERTs Biomass Exchange website. We thought the original AURI/CERTS website (which no longer exists) was a good idea and wanted to put more resources to such an effort. We encourage users to list agriculture and woody crops and residues such as corn cobs, corn stover, hays, prairie grasses, wheat straw, wood chips, wood pellets, etc. We don’t deal in grains like corn and soybeans since established markets exist.
Joel: How did you get interested in this kind of tool and in biomass generally?
Kevin: I became interested in this tool from my work at a previous company spending an inordinate amount of time calling pellet mills, sawmills, forest landowners, and others trying to find wood resources for a client. It was taking a very long time to discover biomass supply chain partners and to determine whether or not partners could deliver at a good price for both parties. And, if your project takes months or years to get off the ground, the original suppliers may no longer be interested in serving your project for one reason or another, putting you back at square one. We thought that web-based software could reduce discovery costs, increase transparency and otherwise allow the biomass industry to move quicker.
Joel: What is the mission or goal of the website?
Kevin: The goal of the website is to bring parties together over a trusted, confidential, user-friendly platform. Our role as technology providers is to facilitate interaction by automating features that help with quality control, logistics, contracts, pricing mechanisms, BCAP paperwork, etc, to the extent necessary to fill the void that industry cannot fill. We do not own the biomass, and we are not brokers, but brokers can use the platform and help shape fair rules of engagement.
Joel: What is your background?
Kevin: My background is in software engineering, working for several start-ups in Colorado during the dot com days. I came to Minnesota in 2005 to get my MBA degree at the University of Minnesota and to be closer to agribusiness opportunities here. I am originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan and received my undergraduate degree in computer engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Joel: Is the Minneapolis Biomass Exchange only for Minnesota customers or is it used nationally?
Kevin: The Minneapolis Biomass Exchange is open to users in Canada and the United States. When you sign in as a Canadian user, we use metric system units (such as the kilometer to denote distance to feedstocks and the metric ton for feedstock weight). We will continue to support both the U.S. system and the metric system which will help all North American international trade to Europe.
Joel: What types of entities are using the site so far?
Kevin: We attract buyers and sellers of feedstock and also transporters looking to ship more volume who essentially become feedstock brokers. We also see usage from project planners, research institutions, and those performing feasibility studies.
Joel: How has site usage been? Are you gaining interest?
Kevin: We have over 200 unique users who have created accounts and are using the system. Of course, you don’t have to create an account to view most of the site, only to send messages with users and to purchase higher value services. Almost all listing owners have received message inquiries and certainly some listings are more popular than others. We’ve seen an uptick in messages sent since the beginning of 2011 as our marketing presence has increased and as our rankings in Google search have improved.
Joel: What do you see happening in the biomass sector today, both here in Minnesota or elsewhere?
Kevin: We’ve seen greater interest in biomass from many regions across the United States in 2011 compared to 2010 as oil prices have risen. We have also seen interest in Canada, especially in British Columbia and Ontario so far. Policies are slowly improving for biomass use as legislators become more knowledgeable. President Obama just announced a greater clean energy commitment in late March 2011 of which biomass will be part of the mix. It’s not a question of “if” but more a question of “when” for greater biomass use. All the same, there is plenty of interest already.
Joel: What is your “elevator pitch” to get more folks to use the Minneapolis Biomass Exchange?
Kevin: The exchange is meant to be as low risk as possible. Therefore, setting up listings and contacting listing owners is free. Signing up will only help with advertising your demand side needs or supply you may have available. It’s also always a good idea to sign up before we release new features. With each new feature release that is a higher-value service (e.g. our late April quality control release), we will provide discounts and free promotional periods to our current users in appreciation for site participation.
