Wood pellet plant pitched in Baldwin
F.E. Wood & Sons of Baldwin will become the state's newest player in the nascent wood pellets industry when it completes an $80 million manufacturing plant.
The company plans to start building its facility on Route 113 next year and employ 17 people when it opens in 2013, according to the Portland Press Herald. The majority of the facility's 300,000-ton capacity would be exported to Europe, shipped via rail line to Portland and then loaded onto ships. F.E. Wood is working with New York investment bank Fieldstone Private Capital Group Inc., which has yet to finalize financing for the project. The project is banking on the state completing its restoration of the Mountain Division rail line between Windham and West Baldwin, work that has stalled due to a lack of state bond funding. State officials are looking to a federal transportation grant for the $10 million needed, according to the paper. Should rail service be delayed, Anthony Wood of F.E. Wood told the paper the company will use trucks to ship the pellets to Portland.
F.E. Wood must also confirm shipping partners and customers in Europe. Currently, the Port of Eastport now ships wood pulp to Europe and is expanding to handle wood fuels like pellets, Maine Port Authority Executive Director John Henshaw told the paper.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments