West Sacramento Planning Commission Approves Wood-Pellet Plant at Port
December 9, 2009The West Sacramento Planning Commission on December 3 approved a conditional-use permit for Enligna US to develop a wood-pellet manufacturing plant at the Port of West Sacramento.
“We’re very excited about moving forward with the Enligna project, which is the most recent in a series of steps we’re taking to further diversify our operations and attract cargos that support sustainable energy production,” said Mike McGowan, chairman of the Sacramento-Yolo Port Commission.
The wood-pellet facility, which will produce about 170,000 tons of wood pellets annually to be used as a coal substitute at power plants, will replace a fertilizer-importing operation that is leaving the port in March 2010. Wood chips will be stored in a section of the port’s grain elevator and on an additional 12-acre site. Pellets will be exported to Asia, Canada, and Europe, but the company also expects growth in U.S. demand.
Enligna also will operate a cogeneration power plant at the port, producing electricity for its own manufacturing operations, with excess power being sold back to the grid or to other port tenants.
The company expects to start wood-pellet production by the end of 2010, with the co-generation operation following soon thereafter.
“This next-generation clean energy project is a good fit with the Port of West Sacramento’s green growth strategy,” said Lutz Glandorf, president of Enligna U.S., Inc. “Our project will use waste wood from orchards in the region and help provide an environmentally sound alternative to burning of wood debris in nearby National Forests. We are excited at the potential of this project as a model to provide green jobs in the region and offer a constructive path to cleaner energy production.”
