Developer plans $20M biomass furnace facility
A Rockport housing developer has announced plans to build a $20 million biomass furnace factory in Millinocket and create as many as 150 jobs in five years.
Joseph Cloutier, president of RE-Gen LLC, yesterday met with the Millinocket Town Council to garner support for building a facility that would manufacture Italian-designed biomass furnaces at Huber Industrial Park next year, according to the Bangor Daily News. Town councilors agreed to support Cloutier's bid to get up to $10 million in federally tax-exempt bonds through the Finance Authority of Maine. Cloutier, who owns about 70 assisted living centers in Maine and New England, said the 50,000-square-foot factory would employ up to 100 welders and technicians who would build the biomass gasification furnaces, large enough to power schools and offices. Another 50 woodsmen would be hired to supply the waste wood chips to fuel the furnaces, according to the paper.
The project would generate $300,000 in local tax revenues annually and could entice other businesses to locate at the industrial park, especially those that use high quantities of electricity, councilors told the paper. Cloutier has already met with state officials to discuss the bond, and told the paper he is "about 80% confident that this project is going to happen."
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments