A reasonable goal for design of a receiving facility for any bioenergy plant is:

1. weigh and unload a truck in 10 min, and

2. move material into, and out of, at-plant storage to support 24/7 operation.

The second most significant cost benefit of a multibale handling unit, after the improve­ment of truck productivity, is the improved cost effectiveness of receiving facility operations. Design of a logistics system must be integrated with the design of the receiving facility.

13.7.2 Farmgate Contract

Creation of a multibale handling unit will require specialized equipment, thus it is not offered as a practical option at the “farmgate” level. As an example, the rack system concept [6] envisions a farmgate contract whereby the contract holder grows the crop, harvests in round bales, and places these bales in single-layer ambient storage in an SSL. The contract holder owns the SSL and is paid a storage fee for each unit of feedstock that is stored. The biomass is purchased by the bioenergy plant in the SSL. All agricultural operations are now “sequestered” in the farmgate contract, which gives those seeking a farmgate contract a well-defined body of work to prepare their business plan.

13.7.3 Hauling Contract

The multibale handling unit system concept envisions that the hauling contractor will invest in the industrial equipment needed for year-round operation. Because the hauling contractor is hauling year-round, they can (1) afford to invest in higher capacity industrial — grade equipment designed for up to 5000 h/yr (or more) operation, and (2) their labor force will develop expertise at the operations, and the tons handled per unit of equipment investment will be a maximum. These two factors together create the potential to minimize hauling cost ($/ton).