Construction Has Begun on Largest Biomass Combined Heat and Power Plant in the U.S.

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The following is an advisory by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Inc.; Houston, Texas). Saint Paul Cogeneration LLC (St. Paul, Minn.), a joint venture company formed by Trigen Energy Corporation (White Plains, N.Y.), Cinergy Solutions Inc (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Market Street Energy (St. Paul, Minn.), an affiliate of District Energy St. Paul Inc., has begun construction on the largest wood-fired (Biomass) combined heat and power plant (CHP) in the United States.

The privately-financed $55 million facility will burn some 280,000 tons of waste wood annually to produce 25 mega-watts (MW) of electricity and 300,000 lbs/hr of steam for heating and cooling purposes for downtown St. Paul buildings. Purchase agreements have been reached with Xcel Energy (Minneapolis, Minn.) for the electricity and District Energy for the thermal energy.

The project is located along Sibley Street between 9th and 10th Streets and underground building tie-ins will be made to new buildings on the St. Paul skyline like the Science Museum of Minnesota, Lawson Commons, and the new Minnesota Life office tower. Completion of the project is expected by December 2002.

President George W. Bush recently cited the combined heat and power plant as a national model for innovative energy production during his visit to St. Paul. As part of that May 17th visit, the President toured the future site of the St. Paul CHP Project and District Energy St. Paul before announcing the Administration's National Energy Policy.