By Kate Ramsayer / The Bulletin, July 01. 2009

A second company is taking a shot at building a biomass-fueled power plant at the La Pine Industrial Park.

The Deschutes County Commission has agreed to sell about 10 acres of land to Biogreen Sustainable Energy Co., of St. Helens, which has plans to build a facility that will turn waste wood into enough electricity to power between 13,000 and 16,000 homes.

"We’re really excited about it," said Rob Broberg, the CEO of Biogreen Sustainable Energy. "I think La Pine is an ideal fit for us because of the resource area out there."

The project would also employ about 20 people at the La Pine facility, he said, and even more as foresters and truck drivers, he said.

"They need jobs down there, and it makes it a logical fit to bring industry down to La Pine," Broberg said.

The $63 million plant, which would produce about 20 megawatts of power, could also attract other businesses to the La Pine Industrial Park, he noted.

Biomass facilities work by burning wood to heat water into steam, which turns the turbines — and the steam could be reused by other businesses like a sawmill, a wood pellet mill, or a nursery that needs heat.

The company plans to use the small woody material from private forestlands, Broberg said — Biogreen Sustainable Energy has bought about 33,000 acres of forestland southeast of La Pine, and is in the process of buying more to provide the biomass fuel.

It also hopes to use recycled material diverted from landfills and transfer facilities, he said.

The Deschutes County Commission hopes to see the project start soon and create jobs at the La Pine Industrial Park, said Commissioner Tammy Baney.

The county has given the company two years to get the necessary permits and finances lined up for the project, and the final purchase price will be about $653,400.

"We want businesses to come in and not speculate on the land. We want them to be able to get up and running right away," Baney said.

The project could bring not only jobs to La Pine, she said, but add electricity to the grid and help in removing some of the small hazardous wildfire fuels in the forest.

Phil Chang, with the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, said the challenge could be selling the power for enough money — electricity is relatively cheap in the Pacific Northwest, but the costs to cut and truck the biomass material from the forest add up.

Silvan Power Co. had proposed building a biomass plant at the industrial park in 2006, but the project is held up because the company doesn’t have adequate fuel for a power plant, said Lou Gillette, with the company.

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management aren’t putting enough small trees and woody material up for sale, Gillette said, and foresters with his company reported that even the private lands around La Pine don’t have enough small trees and woody material to fire up a plant.

"There’s an awful lot of interest in biomass plants," Gillette said. "We’re seeing a lot of new people coming into the market right now. We’ll just wait and see what happens."

Kate Ramsayer can be reached at 541-617-7811 or at kramsayer@bendbulletin.com.