Laidlaw Energy Group, Inc. recently announced that it and its partners have invested $1 million in equity capital with the intent of purchasing the former Fraser Paper Mill from North American Dismantling, Inc. and converting the facility into a biomass energy power plant.
The mill, which closed in May 2006, has significant infrastructure in place that is suitable for biomass energy, including a large Babcock & Wilcox boiler that was installed in 1993 at a cost of nearly $100 million. Engineers at Laidlaw and Babcock & Wilcox estimate that the recently installed boiler could support up to a 70 megawatt biomass energy plant, depending upon the specifications of the steam turbine generators that are ultimately chosen.
Prior to its closure, the mill processed approximately 1 million tons of biomass per year. The newly reconfigured plant will use over 650,000 tons of biomass per year, creating and sustaining approximately 500 local jobs for truckers and forest products workers who will supply wood chips, as well as local businesses that will provide goods and services. 40 direct jobs will be created at the biomass-energy plant.
Emissions from the biomass-energy facility will be contained through the use of emissions controls that are expected to qualify the plant for the sale of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) under the newly enacted Renewable Portfolio Standard program in New Hampshire, as well as other renewable energy programs of various neighboring states in the Northeast.
The acquisition is expected to close within the next several months, with the reconfigured Berlin biomass-energy facility expected to commence operations in late 2008 or early 2009.
For information (and an artists rendering of the proposed Laidlaw Berlin Bio-Commerce Park) visit http://www.nyenrg.com/berlinnhproject.html
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