NYBEA tours bioenergy facility at Fort Drum

FORT DRUM — The New York Biomass Energy Alliance (NYBEA) today took a tour of ReEnergy Black River biopower facility at Fort Drum.

The NYBEA event, which the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency and ReEnergy Holdings, LLC co-sponsored, is part of the NYBEA summer gathering in the state’s Thousand Islands region, the organization said in a news release.

Latham–based ReEnergy Holdings operates the Black River generation facility, which it reopened in June.

The tour attracted industrial and economic-development specialists, biomass power and thermal producers, feedstock producers, appliance manufacturers, municipal leaders, educators, and consumers, Alice Brumbach, NYBEA executive administrator, said in the release.

“This is a rare opportunity to tour the Fort Drum facility that converts sustainably-harvested local woody biomass, some of which will soon be from dedicated-energy crops, into 60 megawatts of clean, reliable, low-cost energy, while supporting local businesses and directly and indirectly creating hundreds of stable, consistent, well-paying jobs in the North Country,” said Brumbach.

The $34 million retrofit plant produces approximately 422,000 net megawatt hours of electricity each year, which is enough to supply the power needs of about 55,000 homes, and may soon power the largest Army installation in the Northeast, according to NYBEA.

ReEnergy Holdings acquired the Black River generation facility in December 2011 after its former owner, Energy Investors Funds of Needham, Mass., idled the plant in early 2010. The plant had primarily burned coal to produce electricity, the company said.

ReEnergy then invested more than $34 million to convert the facility to use biomass as its primary fuel in a project that started in 2012, the company said.

The New York Biomass Energy Alliance, headquartered in Rensselaer, near Albany, is a coalition of individuals, businesses, and organizations working together to enhance support, understanding and use of sustainably produced farm and forest biomass as a source of renewable energy, according to its website.  

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com