ecoPower Secures EPC Contractor for Kentucky Biomass Power Plant

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--ecoPower Generation LLC (Lexington, Kentucky) is finalizing negotiations with EPC contractor Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (NYSE:CBI) (CB&I) (The Woodlands, Texas) to construct a biomass-fired power plant that will be located in Perry County, Kentucky.

ecoPower is currently finalizing financing for the $150 million project, and construction of the plant is expected to start in the fall of this year. The company also received good news earlier in March, when Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear signed legislation that will allow biomass power to become a more attractive alternative for electricity suppliers in Kentucky. Senate Bill 46 passed both the Senate and House without a single dissenting vote, and Beshear signed it into law on March 5, 2013.

The bill paved the way for development of a 58-megawatt wood waste-fired plant that will utilize sawdust, wood chips, bark and sawmill waste to provide renewable energy to the grid.

ecoPower selected AE&E Incorporated (Lexington, Kentucky) to provide the technology for the plant, and Gray Construction Company (Lexington, Kentucky) will provide the underground, civil and site work for the project.

The project will be located at a former reclaimed coal mine site near Krypton, Kentucky, in Perry County, and the plant is expected to be fully operational by the spring of 2015.

The plant will employ 40 people full-time when in full operation. The state has approved the plant for as much as $15 million in tax incentives if it creates jobs as proposed. Low-grade logs and wood waste would be burned at the plant to produce power. ecoPower Generation is a sister company of Pine Mountain Lumber, a hardwood producer that will supply 25% or more of the wood burned at the Perry County plant.

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