Wood pellet manufacturer Enviva LP has expanded with the acquisition of rival manufacturer CKS Energy.
Enviva, part of biomass firm Intrinergy with its head office in Richmond, Virginia, said that CKS Energy would built on its wood pellet offerings for industrial, commercial and residential users.
The company based in Amory, Mississippi also has a particularly strong track record in producing and exporting wood pellet biomass fuel for utility customers, including many in Europe.
Enviva said the CKS plant would be renamed Enviva Pellets Amory, and that additional staff would be hired to expand production capacity from 50,000 tons a year to more than 100,000 tonnes a year.
Plans are for the Amory plant to focus on supplying Enviva’s long-term European customers, sourcing its certified raw materials locally.
“Excellent fit”
John Keppler, Enviva Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: ““As we continue to increase our US manufacturing footprint, we are particularly excited about this acquisition. Strategically, CKS is an excellent fit, providing Enviva with a robust and stable fiber supply chain and easy access both to our key European customers as well as to customers in the upper Midwest.”
“Through this acquisition we look forward to increasing our production of sustainably manufactured wood pellets to meet increasing demand from utilities, power companies, businesses and consumers in Europe and the United States,” added Mr Keppler.
Prior to the CKS aquisition, Enviva had production capacity of around 120,000 tons a year, with plans to expand output to well over one million tons of wood pellets a year by 2015.
Although plans are to expand in the Southeast and Midwest regions, the company also has a plant nearing completion in Belgium, Intrinergy Valorbois, due to come online later this year.
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