Solutions for Business
International WoodFuels to Build Wood Pellet Manufacturing Facility In Central Maine
Contact: Dianna Fletcher, Fletcher-Media/ Maine & Company, (207) 831-8148
Matt Hagerty, Montagne Communications, (603) 644-3200
Laura Sawall, Marketing Manager, WoodFuels, (207) 699-4500
Company Will Create Green Jobs, Expand Renewable Thermal Heating Alternatives
for New England Businesses
(For Immediate Release) July 21, 2009, Portland, ME: Welcome news today for Maine; up to 35 new, “green” jobs at a Portland company that is offering risk-free, cost effective heating alternatives for commercial and institutional facilities. The renewable energy specialists at International WoodFuels, (www.iWoodFuels.com) in partnership with the business development team at non-profit Maine & Company, (www.MaineCo.org) announced plans to build a state-of-the-art biomass manufacturing facility in Burnham, Maine. The facility will have the capacity to produce 100,000 tons of locally sourced wood pellets annually.
“Our Burnham facility will create up to 35 new jobs for Maine, and support the region’s existing foresters, loggers, and other biomass professionals,” said Steven J. Mueller, WoodFuels’ President. “These new, green jobs will allow the facility to produce approximately 100,000 tons of clean burning wood pellets made from sustainably harvested whole logs, annually displacing nearly 12 million gallons of heating oil and effectively eliminating 133,000 tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO_) emissions.”
Located 90 miles northeast of International WoodFuels’ existing Portland office, Burnham is in the heart of Maine’s wood basket and close to the state’s transportation corridor, I-95. With the help of Maine & Company, WoodFuels located an appropriate site adjacent to Pride Sports, the world’s largest manufacturer of wooden golf tees, allowing both companies to efficiently utilize the same source of wood fibers being brought into the area.
“Maine & Company prides itself on recruiting innovative companies like International WoodFuels to our state, to create valuable jobs,” said Maine & Company President Matt Jacobson. “This partnership is a perfect opportunity to grow and keep jobs in Maine. We leveraged the strengths and sustainable products of two strong companies, Pride Sports and WoodFuels. In the end, the partnership provides for the creation of new jobs with WoodFuels and a strong workforce at Pride.”
 Steven J. Mueller, President, International WoodFuels; Randy Dicker, Senior Director of Manufacturing, PrideSports; Matt Jacobson, President & CEO, Maine & Company |
|
| For more information on International WoodFuels please contact Matt Hagerty at Montagne Communications (603) 644-3200 or Laura Sawall at WoodFuels (207) 699-4500. For more information on Maine & Company, please contact Dianna Fletcher at (207) 871-0040. Please visit www.iwoodfuels.com or www.maineco.org. |
Adding to the location’s appeal, WoodFuels’ Community Energy Facility will be situated within one of the state’s permanently designated Pine Tree Development Zones (PTDZ), which were created and implemented successfully by Governor John Baldacci in 2004 (the entire state is temporarily designated as a PTDZ). The PTDZ will permit WoodFuels to take advantage of a number of state tax incentives that have been created specifically to promote growth in industries such as manufacturing and environmental technology.
Maine Governor John Baldacci noted the PTDZ’s importance for businesses like WoodFuels.
“Maine is fortunate to have International WoodFuels recognize the opportunities that our forests offer. WoodFuels’ willingness to invest in Maine’s promising biomass industry is a fulfillment of the Pine Tree Development Zone vision, providing companies with incentives to spur job creation and economic growth.” Baldacci continued, “With an abundant supply of timber and the potential for Maine to become the center of the sustainable energy movement, our state must remain a desirable place for companies like WoodFuels to locate.”
With much of the region’s current pellet supply being used by the residential heating market, Mueller started WoodFuels in 2007 to offer larger commercial and institutional consumers across northern New England a fully integrated thermal heating and steam process solution. Unique to WoodFuels, the company only produces pellets for its own customers and delivers them locally, making the entire process ultra-low carbon while keeping the energy dollars in Maine.
WoodFuels’ customers are provided with a high-efficiency biomass boiler, storage silo, guaranteed pellet supply delivered, and round-the-clock monitoring and maintenance of the system with no capital cost investment. Customers are committed to using the installed system as their main source of heat for a 10-year Energy Services Agreement. WoodFuels offers customers a savings over fossil fuel prices with their program. Similar to a utility, customers receive a monthly bill determined by their BTU consumption in that period. Mueller pointed out the advantage of removing the day to day volatility of fossil fuel prices from a company’s myriad of concerns.
“Unlike commercial consumers that heat their businesses with fossil fuels and often fall victim to unpredictable heating costs each year, our customers are provided with a thermal heating solution that is locally sourced, reduces their carbon footprint and guarantees pellet supply and affordable clean thermal energy for the next decade. It’s socially responsible and economical all at the same time.”
Groundbreaking for the facility is scheduled for late summer.