Idled Orrington waste-to-energy facility is sold, looks to reopen next year
COURTESY / USA ENERGY CORP.
The former Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. plant in Orrington has been sold.
A troubled waste processing facility in Orrington has found a new owner and is expected to restart operations in early 2025.
Eagle Point Energy Center acquired the waste-to-energy facility, formerly known as the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co., with the goal to re-open the facility for the processing and recycling of municipal solid waste.
Terms were not disclosed.
The plant had stopped accepting municipal solid waste last May, forcing municipalities to divert material to area landfills. The waste that is currently in the facility will be compacted in the spring and used upon restart.
Eagle Point is assessing the facility for required improvements.
“So much has been promised regarding solid waste disposal to various communities in recent history,” said Dan Cashman, Eagle Point’s spokesperson. “Eagle Point Energy Center plans to return the Orrington plant to basic operation and work with stakeholders to optimize the facility to meet the long term needs of the region.”
The company has begun hiring staff to work toward restarting the plant, including some employees from the old company. The hiring process is ongoing, and will be a phased-in approach based on the timeline for restarting operations.
Penobscot Energy Recovery Co., located on 42 acres next to the Penobscot River at 29 Industrial Way in Orrington, used processed waste as fuel to generate renewable electricity. Built in 1988, the plant eventually handled solid waste from more than 40 communities in eastern, central and mid-coast Maine.
In 2018, the plant began to lose municipal contracts, as communities chose to send waste to Fiberight, a new 144,000-square foot waste-to-biofuel facility in Hampden.
PERC fought back with the purchase of two $800,000 grinders — nicknamed The Terminators — to improve efficiency and remain competitive. But the company lost nearly two-thirds of its municipal solid waste contracts.
In 2019, the plant added a multimillion-dollar processing system to replace older equipment and streamline waste handling. The facility employed 55 people at the time.
Last November, the PERC plant, which was then operating, was sold in a foreclosure auction conducted by Keenan Auction Co. Inc.
The plant consists of 12 industrial buildings containing 188,936 square feet of space on 43.87 acres, with a 25.3-megawatt power plant and automated front-end waste processing system.
The Fiberight facility itself closed in 2020 after a little more than a year in operation.
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