Pellet plant project to create 175 jobs in Selma

http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2013/08/pellet_plant_project_to_create.html

By Dawn Kent Azok | dazok@al.com
on August 05, 2013 at 10:43 AM, updated August 05, 2013 at 11:26 AM

Zilkha Black Pellets will be produced in Selma. (Zilkha Biomass Energy)

SELMA, Alabama -- Zilkha Biomass Energy is renovating an existing facility in Selma in a project that will produce wood pellet fuel and create 175 jobs.

The company is moving in to the former Dixie Pellets plant, which it bought out of bankruptcy in 2010.

It will become the world's first full-scale plant to produce Zilkha Black Pellets, which are an environmentally sustainable and low carbon fuel that can be transported and burned by coal plants using their existing equipment, a press release said. Unlike traditional compressed wood pellets, the hydrophobic Zilkha Black Pellets can't be damaged by water.

The facility itself is expected to have 55 jobs, with another 120 jobs in the trucking and forestry industries in the community. And during construction, about 380 jobs are expected.

U.S. Bank, Stonehenge Capital Company and AMCREF Community Capital said today they are providing $5.3 million in financing for the project through federal and Alabama state New Markets Tax Credits, a program that encourages the investment of private capital in designated low-income communities. Investors receive tax credits.

Selma is the county seat of Dallas County, which has the third-highest unemployment rate in Alabama.

Construction is underway, and the plant is set to begin operations in 2014.

"We're excited to open the world's first full-scale Zilkha Black Pellet plant in Alabama," Jack Holmes, chief executive for Houston-based Zilkha Biomass Energy, said in a statement. "Selma offers the workforce and training that will help make this facility successful. The plant will produce 275,000 tons of our Black Pellets per year, which can generate enough clean, renewable electricity to supply 50,000 homes per year."

Birmingham's Bradley Arant Boult Cummings served as borrower's counsel to Zilkha Biomass on the deal. The team was led by Birmingham partner Beau Byrd, along with Birmingham partner Paul Compton, Nashville partner Mark Miller, and Birmingham associate Jimmy Long.