Hydaburg School District on Prince of Wales Island has been awarded $150,000 to help design a new biomass heating system for the school and its greenhouse.
The U.S. Forest Service Wood Innovation Grant was one of two awarded to Southeast 
Alaska communities this week. The Haines Borough also received a grant for a planned biomass system at the school, pool and other public facilities in that northern Southeast city.
According to a Forest Service announcement, the Hydaburg project calls for a cordwood-fueled boiler that would replace old diesel-fired boilers, which burn about 25,000 gallons of oil annually.
The new biomass system would heat a greenhouse that would provide fresh, locally produced vegetables for the school’s lunch program. The boilers would use wood fuel collected from the surrounding forest.
Including construction, the Hydaburg biomass boiler project is expected to cost about $900,000. Most of that would come from grants.
