Scrap wood will create 100 percent of the steam needed by Georgia paper manufacturing facility.
The Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G), Cincinnati, and Baltimore-based Constellation have jointly announced a plan to develop a biomass plant that will help run P&G’s plant in Albany, Georgia. The biomass plant is expected to produce up to 50 megawatts of energy.
Constellation will build, own and operate the $200 million cogeneration plant, which will supply steam to P&G’s Albany, Georgia, paper manufacturing facility and generate electricity for Georgia Power, a local utility.
P&G says that by using the energy derived from the biomass plant it will move closer to its 2020 goal of obtaining 30 percent of its total energy from renewable sources.
For more than 30 years the Albany facility has used a smaller onsite biomass boiler to convert wood scrap into renewable steam, which provided the plant with about 30 percent of its total energy. The new facility will provide a highly efficient combined heat and power biomass unit. Incoming biomass will provide 100 percent of the steam, and up to 60-70 percent of the total energy needed for the Albany plant.
“At P&G, we are committed to improving the environmental sustainability of our products across all aspects of their life cycle – from manufacturing, packaging, delivery and consumer use,” says Martin Riant, P&G’s executive sponsor of sustainability and group president, Global Baby and Feminine & Family Care. “As this project enables us to operate one of our largest global plants with a renewable energy source, it will reduce the environmental footprint of two leading brands, Bounty and Charmin. We see this as a win for our business, consumers, partners and the environment.”
The facility is Constellation’s newest project. The company has more than 300 megawatts of assets in operation or under development.
“Constellation is uniquely positioned to help support P&G’s renewable energy goals because of our leadership in both retail energy supply and distributed generation,” says Constellation Senior Vice President of Distributed Energy Gary Fromer. “Increasingly, our customers are looking for comprehensive energy options that enhance operational efficiencies and sustainability. Constellation can deliver innovative, clean energy solutions that drive value for our customers.”
In the initial planning for the facility, P&G and Constellation outlined sustainable procurement standards for the project. The plant’s fuel supply will come from biomass that would otherwise have been left to decay, burned or potentially sent to landfill, including discarded tree tops, limbs, branches and scrap wood from local forestry operations, crop residuals, such as pecan shells and peanut hulls, and mill waste, such as sawdust.
Construction activities have begun on the site with the plant scheduled to begin commercial operation in June 2017.
