May 9, 2008
Otten launches wood pellet co.
Les Otten, the former ski resort owner, is investing $10 million to launch a wood pellet company in Maine with the ambitious goal of converting thousands of homes in the Northeast from oil to wood pellet central heating systems.
Maine Energy Systems, based in Bethel, will begin installing boiler systems in homes this summer, according to the Portland Press Herald. In five years, Otten hopes to replace 10% of Maine's heating oil consumption, or roughly 44,000 residences, with wood pellet fuel, the paper said. He also aims to expand into New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and New York.
Wood pellet heating systems are common in Europe, but they are an evolving market in this country. Otten and two partners, William Strauss, president of the Bethel-based FutureMetrics financial forecasting firm, and Harry "Dutch" Dresser, a former Gould Academy associate headmaster, risk oil prices retreating, the Press Herald said. They must also convince homeowners to invest in the system, which costs about $12,500, nearly twice as much as an oil boiler. But, once installed, the company says a wood pellet system will save the average home more than $1,000 a year.
Harvesting the wood and installing the equipment would create more than 1,500 Maine jobs, according to the paper.
Maine Energy Systems, based in Bethel, will begin installing boiler systems in homes this summer, according to the Portland Press Herald. In five years, Otten hopes to replace 10% of Maine's heating oil consumption, or roughly 44,000 residences, with wood pellet fuel, the paper said. He also aims to expand into New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and New York.
Wood pellet heating systems are common in Europe, but they are an evolving market in this country. Otten and two partners, William Strauss, president of the Bethel-based FutureMetrics financial forecasting firm, and Harry "Dutch" Dresser, a former Gould Academy associate headmaster, risk oil prices retreating, the Press Herald said. They must also convince homeowners to invest in the system, which costs about $12,500, nearly twice as much as an oil boiler. But, once installed, the company says a wood pellet system will save the average home more than $1,000 a year.
Harvesting the wood and installing the equipment would create more than 1,500 Maine jobs, according to the paper.
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