News
Program Will Allow Loggers to Secure Long-term Agreements to Provide Fuel to ReEnergy Biomass-to-Energy Facilities While Procuring State-of-the-Art Equipment
LYONS FALLS, N.Y. – July 25, 2012 — ReEnergy Holdings LLC, an Albany, N.Y.-based renewable energy company, today unveiled a program that will allow loggers to secure long-term agreements to provide fuel to ReEnergy biomass-to-energy facilities while also procuring state-of-the-art wood chippers.
The program was unveiled at an all-day “demo day” for loggers held at ReEnergy Lyonsdale in Lyons Falls, Lewis County, site of one of the company’s biomass-to-energy facilities. The event was co-hosted with Nortrax, the largest John Deere dealership group for construction, mining and forestry equipment in North America.
“ReEnergy believes it is important to invest in its fuel suppliers. This program will enhance the efficiency and productivity of logging operations and add new logging jobs in New York’s North Country, ” said ReEnergy’s Chief Commercial Officer Thomas Beck. “This program has been implemented successfully over the past five years with suppliers to our facilities in Maine, and 47 Morbark wood chippers have been deployed to logging companies in that region.”
Through this program, ReEnergy will purchase state-of-the-art Morbark wood chippers from Nortrax to support its facilities in Northern New York. Five-year contracts will be negotiated with independent loggers and logging companies that will utilize the equipment to supply fuel to the ReEnergy facilities. Under the terms of these contracts, the loggers will make long-term commitments to sell their biomass fuel to ReEnergy and they will pay for the chippers over time, with the equipment purchase payments deducted by ReEnergy from the payments to the suppliers for the biomass fuel. Ownership of the chipper will transfer from ReEnergy once the supplier has fully paid for the equipment.
“Mechanized harvesting is the safest and most efficient method to get wood supply from the forest, and requires a highly skilled workforce” said Eric Carlson, President & CEO of the Empire State Forest Products Association, which represents 189 logging companies employing approximately 600 loggers in New York State. “These are the jobs New York needs that will serve our communities with a future.”
About Biomass Energy
In biomass power facilities, forest residues or other residue fuels are converted into steam that runs a turbine to make electricity or heat that is then provided to industries and homes. New, highly advanced combustion engineering and process controls minimize emissions from biomass fuel sources when compared with fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil.
When trees are harvested, the entire tree is not shipped to a sawmill or paper mill. Some parts of the tree, including branches and tops, are not suitable for the making of products. Often these parts are left in the forest, but they are a valuable resource that — using clean technology — can be converted to fuel to produce energy. ReEnergy buys forest residues harvested locally in accordance with New York’s strict requirements designed to promote resource sustainability. Sustainable harvesting techniques enhance the health of forestland and ensure that the land is able to remain as a viable forest.
About ReEnergy Holdings LLC
ReEnergy Holdings LLC, a portfolio company of Riverstone Holdings LLC, owns and operates facilities that use forest-derived woody biomass and other wood waste residues to produce homegrown, renewable energy. ReEnergy was formed in 2008 by affiliates of Riverstone Holdings LLC and a senior management/co-investor team comprised of experienced industry professionals. ReEnergy employs 265 people in four states and owns eight power facilities with the combined capacity to generate 300 megawatts of energy.
ReEnergy owns three biomass-to-energy facilities in New York: the 22-megawatt facility in Lyons Falls; and a 60-megawatt facility at Fort Drum that is being converted to utilize biomass as a fuel.
ReEnergy’s other facilities include: a 40-megawatt biomass facility in Ashland, ME (ReEnergy Ashland); a 36-megawatt biomass facility in Fort Fairfield, ME (ReEnergy Fort Fairfield); a 40-megawatt biomass facility in Livermore Falls, ME (ReEnergy Livermore Falls); a 50-megawatt biomass facility in Stratton, ME (ReEnergy Stratton); and a 31-megawatt tire-to-energy facility in Sterling, CT (ReEnergy Sterling). ReEnergy also owns two construction and demolition waste and waste wood processing facilities that service the eastern New England/Boston metropolitan area marketplace (ReEnergy Gateway/LL&S in Salem, NH and ReEnergy Gateway/ERRCO in Epping, NH).