Thermogen to build 'biocoal' plant in Eastport
Millinocket-based Thermogen Industries plans to build an $120 million production plant to produce its proprietary torrefied wood pellets at the site of the former BASF plant, near the Port of Eastport.
Thermogen, a subsidiary of Cate Street Capital, signed a letter of intent on Feb. 19 proposing the company enter into a 20-year lease with the Eastport Port Authority on land adjacent to the port's Estes Head Terminal, according to a press release from the company.
The company estimates that the new plant would employ approximately 75 people in Eastport and the facility there would support another 300 forest jobs throughout Maine.
While the deal remains in preliminary stages, the company says it plans to begin construction in early 2014 after securing permitting and completing engineering and site design work for the property. The company also says it hopes to pursue new market tax credits for the project, which it used to court $50 million in financing for its Great Northern Paper mill.
The new plant would produce the same kind of torrefied wood pellets — or biocoal — at the Thermogen plant in Millinocket, where construction is to resume this spring for an anticipated fall completion and startup date.
In December 2011, Thermogen parent company Cate Street Capital, which also owns Great Northern Paper Co. and its East Millinocket paper mill, purchased the exclusive North American rights to use proprietary microwave technology to produce that biocoal, which the company plans to ship to Europe where it says the fuel could replace coal burned in power plants.
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