SITE - Enviva · Intrinergy Holdings LP, acquired CKS Energy Inc., a privately held company that...
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SITE Selection BY ADAM BRUNS Managing Editor The past year has been filled with progressively busier proj- ect location and construction activity by biomass fuel firm Enviva, which until last year was known as Intrinergy. And there's even more on the imme- diate horizon. The seven-year-old firm, now based in Bethesda, Md., af- ter relocating from Richmond, Va., has only been supplying its products since 2007. It received a hefty investment in March 2010 from private equity firm Riverstone Holdings. In August, Enviva, described as part of Intrinergy Holdings LP, acquired CKS Energy Inc., a privately held company that manufactures wood pellets for industrial, com- mercial and residential uses. Based in Amory, Miss., CKS was one of the few U.S.-based companies with a successful track record of manufacturing and ex- porting sustainable, high-quality wood pellet biomass fuel for util- ity customers, said Enviva. Most of those customers are based in Europe, where the use of wood pellets is well integrated into all areas of the energy sector. Enviva immediately an- nounced it would double the Amory facility's capacity to approximately 100,000 tons a year, sourcing material locally from the plentiful "wood bas- ket," mainly pine, stretching from Mississippi across to North Carolina. Pellets from that plant, located along the Tennessee- Tombigbee Waterway system, are exported through the Port of Mobile. So are pellets from the former Piney Wood Pellets fa- cility in Wiggins, Miss., which Enviva acquired in October 2010 and expanded to 150,000 tons of capacity. But the other end of that wood basket beckoned. In December 2010, Enviva announced an- other new location, at a former Georgia Pacific lumber mill in Ahoskie, N.C., in Hertford County hard by the Virginia state line in the northeastern part of the state. The new wood pellet manufacturing facility was slated to bring 53 jobs to the area, and would produce 330,000 tons of wood pellets annually from more than 600,000 tons of raw wood supplies. The new plant received grant support from the state's One North Carolina Fund. "The region's abundant re- sources, proximity to ports, and wealth of skilled labor have made it a focus of Enviva's plans for future growth," Enviva said then. "Based on increas- ing demand from its domestic and European customer base, Enviva is contemplating the development of at least two ad- ditional manufacturing plants in the area, with site selection ex- pected to be completed within 18 to 24 months." Perfect Port Less than two months later, Enviva announced it had ac- quired a port terminal just an hour northeast of Ahoskie in Chesapeake, Va., from Giant Cement Co. The terminal will enable Enviva to create the ca- pacity to receive, store and load in excess of 3 million tons of sustainably generated woody biomass for export each year. "The Chesapeake region has for a long time been a key nex- us of international trade in the United States," said Enviva CEO John Keppler."We are particularly excited to be one of the first green economy manufacturers to rebalance the flow of trade in favor of exports from this port in Virginia." The terminal, located on a 50- acre (20-hect- are) site, can accommodate a wide range of ships and load- ing options re- quired for the export of more than 40,000 metric tons of Enviva's wood pellets per vessel. Elizabeth Woodworth, director of marketing and communica- tions for Enviva, says the compa- ny is retrofitting an existing crane that was used by Giant. There is plenty of room for additional si- los as volume increases. And the possibility exists that a second berth could be created on the op- posite side of the terminal from the existing berth. Immediate work on the ter- minal was expected to require up to 60 tradesmen and con- tractors, with a permanent staff of 12 expected to double by the third year of operation. The ter- minal upgrades are expected to be complete in November 2011, to coincide with pellet produc- tion in Ahoskie. Meanwhile, Giant will continue to use a portion of the terminal for ce- ment sales. "The port has handled our ce- ment volumes for 11 years and Pellet Run Proximity to ports and to fiber determines facility locations for Enviva May 2011 Vol. 3, Issue 05 THE MAGAZINE OF CORPORATE REAL ESTATE STRATEGY & AREA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ON MAY 11, ENVIVA LP INFLATED a 157-ſt. dome manufactured by Idaho-based Dome Technology at its new port terminal facility in Chesapeake, Va., where Enviva will have the capacity to export 3 million tons of biomass annu- ally. Above, Dr. Alan Krasnoff (leſt), mayor of Chesapeake, celebrates with John Keppler, chairman and CEO of Enviva.
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Transcript of SITE - Enviva · Intrinergy Holdings LP, acquired CKS Energy Inc., a privately held company that...
SITESelection
BY ADAM BRUNSManaging Editor
Thepastyearhasbeenfilledwith progressively busier proj-ect location and constructionactivity by biomass fuel firmEnviva, which until last yearwas known as Intrinergy. Andthere's even more on the imme-diatehorizon. The seven-year-oldfirm,nowbased in Bethesda, Md., af-ter relocating from Richmond,Va.,hasonlybeensupplyingitsproductssince2007. It receiveda hefty investment in March2010 from private equity firmRiverstoneHoldings.InAugust,Enviva, described as part ofIntrinergyHoldingsLP,acquiredCKS Energy Inc., a privatelyheldcompanythatmanufactureswoodpelletsforindustrial,com-mercialandresidentialuses. Based inAmory, Miss., CKSwas one of the few U.S.-basedcompanieswithasuccessfultrackrecordofmanufacturingandex-porting sustainable, high-qualitywoodpelletbiomassfuelforutil-itycustomers,saidEnviva.Mostof those customers are based inEurope, where the use of woodpellets iswell integrated into allareas of the energy sector. Enviva immediately an-nounced it would double theAmory facility's capacity toapproximately 100,000 tons ayear, sourcing material locallyfrom the plentiful "wood bas-ket," mainly pine, stretchingfromMississippiacrosstoNorthCarolina.Pelletsfromthatplant,
located along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway system, areexportedthroughthePortofMobile.Soarepelletsfromtheformer PineyWood Pellets fa-cility inWiggins,Miss.,whichEnviva acquired in October2010 and expanded to 150,000tons of capacity. Buttheotherendofthatwoodbasket beckoned. In December2010, Enviva announced an-other new location, at a formerGeorgia Pacific lumber millin Ahoskie, N.C., in HertfordCountyhardbytheVirginiastateline in the northeastern part ofthe state. The new wood pelletmanufacturingfacilitywasslatedtobring53jobstothearea,andwould produce 330,000 tons ofwoodpelletsannuallyfrommorethan 600,000 tons of rawwoodsupplies.Thenewplantreceivedgrant support from the state'sOneNorthCarolinaFund. "The region's abundant re-sources,proximitytoports,andwealth of skilled labor havemade it a focus of Enviva'splansforfuturegrowth,"Envivasaid then. "Based on increas-ing demand from its domesticand European customer base,Enviva is contemplating thedevelopmentofatleasttwoad-ditionalmanufacturingplantsinthearea,withsiteselectionex-pected to be completed within18to24months."
Perfect Port Less than two months later,Enviva announced it had ac-quired a port terminal just an
hour northeast of Ahoskie inChesapeake, Va., from Giant Cement Co. The terminal willenableEnviva to create the ca-pacitytoreceive,storeandloadin excess of 3 million tons ofsustainably generated woodybiomassforexporteachyear. "The Chesapeake region hasforalongtimebeenakeynex-us of international trade in theUnited States,"said EnvivaCEO JohnKepp l e r. "Weare particularlyexcited to beone of the firstgreen economy manufacturerstorebalancetheflowof trade infavorofexportsfrom this port in Virginia." The terminal,locatedona50-acre (20-hect-are) site, can accommodateawide rangeofships and load-ing options re-quired for theexport of morethan 40,000metric tons of Enviva'swoodpelletspervessel.Elizabeth Woodworth, directorof marketing and communica-tions for Enviva, says the compa-nyisretrofittinganexistingcranethatwasusedbyGiant.Thereisplentyofroomforadditionalsi-losasvolumeincreases.Andthe
possibility exists that a secondberthcouldbecreatedontheop-posite sideof the terminal fromtheexistingberth. Immediate work on the ter-minal was expected to requireup to 60 tradesmen and con-tractors, with a permanent staff of12expectedtodoublebythethirdyearofoperation.Theter-minalupgradesareexpectedto
becompleteinNovember2011,tocoincidewithpelletproduc-tion in Ahoskie. Meanwhile,Giant will continue to use aportion of the terminal for ce-mentsales. "Theporthashandledource-mentvolumesfor11yearsand
Pellet Run Proximity to ports and to fiber determines facility locations for Enviva
May 2011Vol. 3, Issue 05
THE MAGAZINE OF CORPORATE REAL ESTATE STRATEGY & AREA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
On May 11, Enviva LP infLatEd a 157-ft. dome manufactured by Idaho-based Dome Technology at its new port terminal facility in Chesapeake, Va., where Enviva will have the capacity to export 3 million tons of biomass annu-ally. Above, Dr. Alan Krasnoff (left), mayor of Chesapeake, celebrates with John Keppler, chairman and CEO of Enviva.
has been an important asset for our company," said DuncanGage, president and CEO ofGiant."Itisoneoftheonlyas-sets of its type on the Eastern Seaboard, and we believe thatEnviva is well-positioned tocapitalizeonthepotentialofthisterminalandincreaseitsimpor-tancetotheregion." EvenasEnvivacontinuesitssearch for newpellet plant lo-cations, however, it saw an op-portunitywhere itwas alreadybarely planted. On May 2,2011, in response to increaseddemand, it said it would in-crease production capacity inAhoskie by another 50,000metric tons, to 350,000 totalmetric tons. Total job creationisnowexpectedtoreachmorethan60. As part of that announce-ment,Enviva said itwas "cur-rentlydevelopingsites for twoadditional wood pellet manu-facturing plants in the mid-Atlantic region, eachofwhichcould be operational by late2012,andanothersiteineitherMississippi orAlabamawhichcould become operational inearly2013."Thecompanyhaslong operated one overseasplantaswell,a50,000-metric-ton combined-heat-and-powerandwoodpelletfacilityoutsideBrussels,Belgium. Woodworthsaysproximitytoboththewoodandthedeepwa-ter ports to ship pellets are thetwo prime factors in the compa-ny'ssiteselection.Buttransportoptionsbetweenallthoseplacesarealsoimportant. "Ideallywe'd like to be on amajorwaterway likewe are inAmory, on the Tenn-Tombigbee Waterway," she says,citing thelow-cost and low-carbon ad-vantages of using barges. "Oursecond favorite isby rail."Thecompany plans to make primeuse of a Norfolk Southernline serving that terminal inChesapeake. "In the next year we haveplannedtoannouncepotentiallythree more sites in the NorthCarolina-Mississippi-Alabama
region,"shesays."Andin2012the potential is for expandingevenmore."
Green Enough? So: How does harvestingwood for pellets differ fromharvesting it for lumber as faras sustainability goes? Envivasays it's all about sustainablysourced raw material, basedon a blend of adherence toworldwide sustainable forestrystandardsanddevelopingcloserelationships with landown-ers.Enviva receivedSFIFiberSourcing certification in thefirst quarter of this year, andwillpursueSFI,FSCandPEFCChainofCustodycertificationsover the courseof the remain-derof2011. "Multiplestudiesbyleadingresearchinstitutesconfirmthatfiring woody biomass is themost commercially attractiveand effective way to reduceGHG emissions from fos-sil fuel-based power plants,"says the company's docu-mentonprocurementfromthe
Southeast. "Studies byE4tech(UK) and other government-backed and private researchbodies show that electricityproduced from wood pelletsharvested and manufacturedin, and transported to Europefrom, the Southeast UnitedStates reducesgreenhousegasemissions by at least 80 per-cent compared to electricityproducedfromcoal. "The Southeast U.S. woodbasket is a sourceof plentiful,sustainable biomass. This re-gion consistently grows moretimberthanisharvested—thenetvolumeoftimbergrownonforested land in the SoutheastUnitedStateshasroughlydou-bled in thepast60years.Thistrend continues today. Otherregions of the United Stateshaveseensimilarincreases,ledby the Northern United Stateswhere forest inventories have swelledover130percentinthepast60years. "U.S.forestsaregrowingmoretimberthanisbeingharvestedev-eryyear.Since1953,thevolume
ofgrowingstockson timberlandin the South has increased from148billioncubicfeet(4.2billioncubicmeters)toover288billioncubic feet (8.2billion cubicme-ters).Since1997,growingstocksinthesouthhaveincreasedby32billioncubicfeet(1billioncubicmeters) or almost 13 percent.(Source:U.S.D.A.ForestService:U.S. Forest Resource Facts andHistoricalTrends2010)." In addition to the multiplecertifications, says Woodworth,Enviva's site selection strategyitself makes sure transport dis-tancesforbothrawmaterialsandpellets are kept to a minimum.What'smore, the companyusesbiomasstorunitsdryers.Finally,thecompany'sheadquartersislo-catedinaLEED-SilverbuildinginBethesda. "Intermsofourcarbonfoot-print,wemeasurethatfromfor-esttofurnace,"shesays."Icanhonestly say that sustainabilityisabsolutelypartofourDNA."
Enviva LOads pellets onto a barge on the Tenn-Tom Waterway from its facility in Amory, Miss.
THE MAGAZINE OF CORPORATE REAL ESTATE STRATEGY & AREA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
