News that Covanta Holding Corp. is planning to take its local biomass energy plant and one in Jonesboro offline in March has caused one of the company鈥檚 biggest suppliers of waste wood to worry about his employees. 鈥淚鈥檓 hopeful that something will change,鈥� Brian Souers of Treeline Inc. of Lincoln said Friday. 鈥淚f it closes, it鈥檚 not good.鈥� Between a quarter and one-third of Treeline鈥檚 business is with Covanta, said Souers, who has 65 employees.
Covanta Maine Energy in West Enfield, with 24 employees, and the Covanta Jonesboro Power Station, with 20 employees, will be closing at the end of the quarter because 鈥渆nergy prices are not sufficient to cover the costs of operation and fuel supply,鈥� James F. Regan, Covanta spokesman, said Thursday in a statement. He said Friday that Morristown, New Jersey,-based Covanta, which owns more than 40 waste-to-energy plants across the country, is not abandoning either of the plants in Maine. 鈥淭he future of the facilities will continue to be evaluated,鈥� Regan said. 鈥淚f the economics improve, they could be restarted, as we have done in the past. We do not expect any impact on local property taxes in the near term [and] we have no plans to file bankruptcy.鈥�
While lower fossil fuel costs that make it cheaper for competitors to produce power are a major factor in Covanta taking the plants offline, increased efficiency of plants demanded by renewable energy customers are also to blame, according to an industry expert. 鈥淚t鈥檚 no coincidence that these closures were announced so soon after the facilities ceased to qualify for the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards,鈥� Carrie Annand, Biomass Power Association spokeswoman, said in an email. 鈥淎s of Jan. 1, 2016, Massachusetts implemented new efficiency standards for biomass facilities, which require biomass facilities to meet standards beyond what is possible for any standalone biomass power plant. Because of the interconnected New England power grid, Maine power facilities can be affected by other states鈥� energy policies.鈥�
The new Massachusetts standards are based on the overall efficiency of a plant鈥檚 wood-burning operation and the amount of greenhouse gases it produces, according to a report by the Clean Energy States Alliance. Souers said he鈥檚 hopeful that Gov. Paul LePage and legislators in Augusta can improve the situation.
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