Monday, January 11, 2010

By John Henderson

The plans, which have been submitted to the N.C. Utilities Commission, call for the electricity to be sold to Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc.

The owner of an insulation company is planning to lease out 23 acres of industrially zoned land at 820 E. Nash St. in Spring Hope to investors who plan to develop the project.

ALP Generation LLC has filed an application and is seeking a “certificate of public convenience” to construct the wood/biomass-fueled electric generating facility. The plant would provide a maximum electrical output of 20,000 kilowatts per hour. The project would consist of four combustors and boilers, with Elliott Steam Turbines & Generators in the control room.

The site was previously American Rockwool Inc., which manufactured insulation.

Plans call for a dormant rail-line that runs past the plant being reactivated to transport wood products to the site.

“This project will benefit the local Spring Hope, Nash County, N.C. community by creating truck or rail fuel deliveries to the plant-site jobs,” the application before the N.C. Utilities Commission states.

If there are no delays, the project would come online on June 1, 2012, the application states.

Preston Curtis, the owner of Curtis Insulation in Middlesex and managing director of the company planning to develop the project, said the financing is ready to go once contracts are signed and an agreement is

consummated with Progress Energy to purchase the power.

Curtis and his wife, Cathy, would lease out the property for the project.

“The financing is taken care of,” Preston Curtis said. “It is an awful lot of money. But it’s all been taken care of as soon as all of the paperwork is done.”

The project would generate several hundred jobs during the construction phase and the plant would hire about 50 permanent positions, Curtis said.

The former insulation producing plant with a smokestack is currently on the site.

“The building would have to be renovated. It’s not high enough (off the ground) for what we need,” Curtis said.

Curtis said they have contracts to supply the wood to the plant.

An agreement with Progress Energy to buy the power needs to be reached for the project to come to fruition, Curtis said.

“We’re in the early stage of it,” he said. “If the power company doesn’t want to pay enough to make it work, to give you a contract to make it work, you’re dead in the water anyway.”

Progress Energy spokesman Mike Hughes said the power company has not entered into negotiations to buy the power from the Spring Hope plant.

“I checked, and we do not have a contract to purchase the output from that project,” he said. “I don’t know what stage that project is in currently.”

In November, Progress Energy put out a request for proposal seeking energy from wood biomass projects in North Carolina to help the company comply with the state’s renewable energy standards, he said.

“We’ll evaluate all the proposals and will certainly be continuing discussions and negotiations with proposals that are deemed viable, and we’ll move forward with those,” he said.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

In its application with the state, ALP Generation LLC states that the Spring Hope project will benefit the local community and neighboring communities “by having clean, renewable, carbon-neutral, reasonably priced, small-power generation, which does not produce acid rain.”

NC Warn, a nonprofit watchdog group out of Raleigh that according to its Web page is “working for clean efficient energy,” does not necessarily share that view.

“The claim that burning wood is carbon-neutral is being contested pretty heavily across the country,” said Jim Warren, the executive director of the organization. “There are all sorts of factors and nuances to this whole thing, and it’s going to be debated for a long time. It’s just not as clear cut as saying, ‘(Wood-burning plants) are ‘carbon-neutral.’”

Warren also said that the trees that provide the fuel for these power plants are critical to reducing carbon levels in the atmosphere.

“Plants are extremely important in the climate issue. They are helping clean the air,” he said.

Warren said the issue goes well beyond the proposed Spring Hope plant, as there are a growing number of requests throughout the country to fire up these plants.

One concern is that the plants might burn wood treated with chemicals, such as plywood, Warren said. Burning treated wood can produce dioxins, he said.

But Rudy Suto, a consultant to the Spring Hope project with United Supply out of Murrysville, Pa., said the wood that would be burned would not be treated with chemicals, as environmental regulations would not allow that.

“You can’t burn particulate board. You can’t burn wood with paint on it,” he said. “It will be clean, carbon-neutral. That is the law. We’re not allowed to burn anything other than what is legal.”

There is plenty of clean wood available within a 30-mile radius of the Spring Hope plant to supply it with fuel, Suto said.

He said the residents need not be concerned about soot emissions from the plant.

“They (state officials) measure the particulates,” he said. “If you see smoke coming out of the stack, then there is something wrong. This is (going to be) a state-of-the-art plant.”

MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT POWER PROJECT

Doug Roberts, the owner of Batchelor’s Tavern across the street from the property, said he would welcome the new plant.

“I think it’s a good idea,” he said. “Any time you can (generate electricity) without coal burning (is a positive), and wood is cleaner to burn than coal.”

He also said the additional jobs are much needed in Spring Hope. And the truckers and employees from the plant might become lounge and restaurant patrons.

“(The plant) is needed,” he said.

The plant would also generate work for truckers, he said.

Tony Pulley, who lives across the street from the plant, said he doesn’t relish the thought of the railroad and plant being reactivated, as the neighborhood has been pleasantly quiet since American Rockwool ceased its rock insulation production facility years ago.

But Pulley said he isn’t opposed to the new wood-burning plant, particularly since it would generate new jobs.

“It’s good for the economy in this town. I could live with it,” he said.

Pulley, who worked for 28 days for Rockwool, said the new electrical plant would not likely generate the emissions of the former insulation plant.

“Most everybody around here in the neighborhood was working (at Rockwool) at the time,” he said. “If there was a mix up with the burning process, the fibers would come right out the smokestack and it would saturate the neighborhood. It would look like snow. Sometimes, people would complain, depending on which way wind was blowing.”

Neal Lucas, who also lives on East Nash Street across the street from the plant property, said he would need to learn more about the project before giving an opinion.

“I know nothing about it,” he said. “They always have hidden agendas. Who is this best for? Is it best for the community, or is it best for these (developers)? Is it going to make the light (bill) go down, or are they going to be a part of the profit?

Richard Ferguson, the owner of Fergie’s Truck Repair on East Nash Street across the street from the plant, wasn’t too concerned.

“As long as (the plant) doesn’t set my place on fire, I got no problem with (the new plant),” he said.

RESIDENTS GIVEN CHANCE TO COMMENT

Public comment currently is being taken on the project by the N. C. Utilities Commission.

If there are complaints or concerns, the commission could schedule a public hearing, said Kenny Ellis, a commission staff engineer.

Complaints were not lodged when the same group recently got its approval to build a similar wood-burning electrical plant in Bertie County, he said.

“There was no controversy, since people see this as offsetting (electrical) generation from coal, which they see as very dirty,” he said. “They also see this as bringing jobs to community and being an economic stimulus.”

Ellis said the Spring Hope plant proposal is feasible.

“Based on what I’ve seen from his last application, I expect he (Curtis) is capable of doing this,” he said.

What do you think about ?

Residents who wish to comment on the project should send their statements to the N.C. Utilities Commission.

Comments should reference Sex Chat Docket No. SP-570, Sub 0.

Comments should be addressed to: Chief Clerk, North Carolina Utilities Commission, 4325 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27699-4325.

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