RWE subsidiary Georgia Biomass receives European Pellet Council ENplus A1 certification in recognition of high quality of wood pellets produced at its 750,000-tonne/year wood pellet plant in Waycross, Georgia
Allison Oesterle
WAYCROSS, Georgia
,
October 16, 2013
(press release)
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Wood pellet producer Georgia Biomass, a subsidiary of RWE Innogy GmbH, has reached an important milestone: The high quality of wood pellets produced at its Waycross, Georgia facility has recently been recognized by receiving the European Pellet Council ENplus A1 certification. This recognition signifies the capability of the plant to produce pellets to the most stringent requirements as set by the European residential market.
With a design capacity of 750,000 metric tons per year, the wood pelleting plant operated by Georgia Biomass is the largest of its kind in the world. The certification enables the company to fortify its position in the commercial and residential heating markets in several European countries including Italy, Germany and Denmark, in which the company currently is doing business.
The majority of the wood pellets continue to be sold into the export industrial market via the port of Savannah. Therefore, critical to Georgia Biomass’s long term success is securing off-take agreements with European utilities. The company recently signed competitively priced supply contracts with different companies for up to 660,000 metric tons per year, including two large volume contracts through 2019 with Drax Group plc., a major UK energy company, and RWE Supply and Trading GmbH, a leading European energy trading house. Integral to these long- term agreements is the requirement that Georgia Biomass demonstrates and maintains its commitment to the highest sustainability standards as mandated by European
customers. Exemplifying this commitment is the achievement of certifications from the Sustainable Forestry initiative and the Forest Stewardship Council, along with several others.
Jim Roecker, CEO of Georgia Biomass, explains: “The latest achievements are examples of the continuous progress we are making toward becoming the industry leader in reliably producing and supplying wood pellets of high quality for the residential and industrial markets. I am proud and grateful for all the effort put forth by the Georgia Biomass team and all of our partners in the value chain. We continue to strive for operational excellence while maintaining the highest of safety standards. We recently celebrated reaching the milestone of 1,000 days without a lost time injury. This achievement exemplifies the commitment to safety that employees and contractors demonstrate each day at Georgia Biomass.”
About Georgia Biomass
Georgia Biomass, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of RWE Innogy formed in 2010 as RWE’s commitment to biomass as a large part of the sustainable energy future. Georgia Biomass is operating the world’s largest wood pellet plant and is located in Waycross with headquarters in Savannah. The company’s focus and mission is to create a more renewable energy future by delivering the highest quality pellets under the most sustainable criteria.
About RWE
RWE is one of Europe’s five leading electricity and gas companies. It is active in the generation, trading, transmission and supply of electricity and gas. Around 70,000 employees supply over 16 million electricity customers and nearly eight million gas customers with energy. RWE Innogy pools the renewable energy expertise and power plants of the RWE Group. The company plans, builds and operates facilities generating power from renewable energies.
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