To be fuelled by wood, waste wood and sawdust, the plant, which started operations after completing testing and commissioning activities, will generate both electricity and process steam.
The new plant will provide steam to Domtar, supporting sustainable papermaking operations, and curb around 30% of emissions at the site, We Energies claims.
The plant has created around 400 jobs during construction and 150 permanent jobs including independent wood suppliers and haulers from northern and central Wisconsin.
With the start of operations of the new plant, We Energies has now added another technology – biomass to its renewable energy portfolio, which already has two wind power projects, 145MW Blue Sky Green Field Wind Energy Center in Fond du Lac County and the 162MW Glacier Hills Wind Park in Columbia County.
These three projects can deliver around 360MW of renewable energy, which is enough electricity to power around 120,000 homes, and help We Energies meet 10% renewable energy target by 2015 as required by the Wisconsin law.
We Energies chairman, president and CEO Gale Klappa said all these projects have been executed by largely using Wisconsin resources including talents of local companies and labor.
