http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2010-03-24/story/gov-perdue-breaks-ground-waycross-huge-wood-pellet-plant
The Waycross operation will use wood pellets as a coal substitute.
Posted: March 24, 2010 - 10:57pm
March 24, 2010 - 10:57pm Gov. Perdue breaks ground in Waycross for huge wood pellet plant
WAYCROSS - Gov. Sonny Perdue, local officials and executives from two European companies broke ground Wednesday for a new bio-energy wood pellet plant that, when finished, will be the largest in the world.
Georgia Biomass, a partnership between RWE Innogy of Germany and BMC of Sweden, will invest $150 million to build its wood pellet plant on Waycross' Industrial Park. Wood pellets are widely used in European power plants as a low-pollution substitute for coal. Once open, Georgia Biomass will create 75 direct jobs and boost timber sales regionwide.
During the ceremony's opening remarks Perdue and other speakers competed at times with the hum of heavy equipment in the background that had already broken a lot of ground. But there was no mistaking the message when Perdue and others tossed a dozen shovelfuls of sand into the air for cameras: Waycross industrial development had begun to write a new chapter.
Perdue said economic development is all about finding a way to match the state's strengths with a company's needs. In this case, the match between Georgia Biomass and Southeast Georgia "absolutely hits the sweet spot," he said.
It also fits Perdue's goal to develop Georgia as a center for innovation in alternative energy.
"There's not a lot of wind in Georgia. We don't have acres of sun we can harness. We have to focus on what we have," he said. "Biomass dollars, that's where we're real strong."
RWE Innogy is Europe's fourth largest producer of electricity and the world's largest user of biomass.
Building a biomass plant will help protect the company from too much market exposure, said Chief Financial Officer Hans Bunting.
RWE Innogy and BMC came to Waycross because it's the best place to manufacture wood fuel pellets, Bunting said. The Southeast has the best timber, and it's grown in a sustainable way. There are harbors and railroads to move the product, hard workers and a stable political environment.
"When you narrow all that down from a worldwide search, there is only one place to go: the United States' South," Bunting said. "And, Georgia pine is perfect for producing pellets. You have a constant supply of consistent quality."
It was a point he made earlier in addressing the crowd of hundreds that gathered under a tent.
"Where else would it make sense to build a pellet factory but in the heart of Georgia?'' he asked.
Could replace coal
BMC founder and managing partner Mats Lindstand said the pellets will have "coal-like'' characteristics and with additional advances the fuel could replace coal in many energy production facilities.
Erik Olsson, chairman of the board for BMC in the U.S., is credited for coming up with the idea of manufacturing fuel pellets at an industrial level. He said biomass has a bright future in the world of alternative energy.
"Out of all the renewable energy sources, biomass is the most sustainable," he said. "It's carbon-based, so it can be used for a lot of applications."
A green energy
Biomass can be considered a green energy because the carbon emitted by burning fuel pellets is offset by the carbon absorbed when trees are grown, he said.
"If you additionally capture carbon dioxide during the [fuel burning] cycle, the process then becomes a carbon dioxide vacuum cleaner," Olsson said.
Perdue, like Olsson, also sees biomass as a game-changer. He noted RWE Innogy is not just any company, but a linchpin in alternative energy development.
"They are in this for the long term. Right now 30 percent of their energy production is from fuel pellets and possibly in five years it will be 50 percent," Perdue said. "It's something that can literally change this part of the world as well as the rest of the geopolitical landscape."
As in the past, Regina Morgan, executive director of the Okefenokee Area Development Authority, won effusive praise for bringing all the parties together and making everything work on a strip of land near the edge of the Waycross-Ware County Industrial Park.
Times-Union Georgia Editor Terry Dickson contributed to this report.
