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VIRTUALLYPFI A REVIEW While the COVID-19 pandemic doomed the Pellet Fuels Institute’s in-person annual conference, its web-based replacement found the sector cautiously optimistic about the year. BY TIM PORTZ
W
hile the COVID-19 pandemic has made it impossible to conduct inperson annual conferences, since its global debut, most associations— including the Pellet Fuels Institute—have leveraged technology to gather for discussions. The Pellet Fuels Institute hosted VirtuallyPFI, its web-based annual conference equivalent, over the course of two weeks in late July and early August. The agenda, pulled directly from the original annual conference program, focused on wood pellet manufacturers and their upstream and downstream partners. The four moderated panel discussions collectively highlighted that while 2020 has brought unprecedented marketplace disruptions, it also offers potential for one of the better years for producers in a decade. Over the span of the event, the mood of panelists transitioned from breathing a tentative sigh of relief that the worst of the pandemic was behind them, to carefully guarded optimism for what the rest of the year might bring. Producer Attitudes On Aug. 4, VirtuallyPFI hosted a conversation featuring three member-producers to assess how they fared in the early days of the pandemic, their ability to find and buy the fiber necessary to meet produc-
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tion goals, as well as their customers’ appetite for their finished products. The discussion began with producers recalling the outset of the pandemic and the challenges they were confronted with in those first weeks. “Our first challenge was understanding if our operations were going to even be allowed to operate,” said Brett Jordan, CEO of Lignetics, a multi-facility producer. “That was a moving target for a bit, until the federal guidance on essential businesses came out. Once that was resolved, we really began to focus on what was happening with our customers, our retail partners.” The concern for Jordan and others in the sector was what shuttered retail outlets would mean for late-season pellet shipments, and depending upon the length of any closures, critical inventory build-up during the increasingly important months of July and August. “We stayed running the entire time,” shared Matt O’Malley of O’Malley Wood Pellets. O’Malley discussed the undertaking of increased cleaning protocols and the distribution and use of face coverings, but at the same time, the pandemic’s early weeks coincided with a cool stretch in his marketplace, he said. “We were selling product steadily and running hard to keep up with demand.” Pat Curran idled his Massena, New York-based Curran Renewables facility for a week, motivated by
