Loggers, sawmill operators and others in New Hampshire’s forest industry are concerned about the sale of two wood energy plants in the state to energy conglomerate AES Corporation. The loggers fear AES will close the plants, depriving them of a profitable way to dispose of “low grade wood”.
WOOD WORRIES DARMAN
8/02/01
LEAD: Loggers, sawmill operators and others in New Hampshire’s forest industry are concerned about the sale of two wood energy plants in the state to energy conglomerate AES Corporation. The loggers fear AES will close the plants, depriving them of a profitable way to dispose of “low grade wood”. NHPR’s David Darman has more.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Talk to people in the forest industry these days, the conversation often turns to good forestry practices, and the economic necessity of earning money on every part of the tree. A logging crew deep in the woods in Henniker provides a good illustration of this notion.
SOUND UP: 12 41 rrrrrrrrrrrr
Here, the claw of a big truck picks up large tree branches along a new dirt road, and stuffs them into a long, noisy machine, known as a “chipper”.
SOUND: 52 another round 57 round rrrrrr 141 really loud
The machine belongs to WeLog, Incorporated, of Colebrook. Malcolm Washburn, owner of WeLog, says some of the chips will go to Whitefield Power in Whitefield, one of two wood energy plants owned by AES Corporation. Washburn says he’s worried about rumors that AES will close the plants in Whitefield and Springfield. He fears his company would incur new expenses that would cut into profits.
04 well,it probably wouldn’t put you out of business, but it would dramatically affect your cost. I mean its labor intensive to limb wood, its handwork, its chainsaw work, and it takes a lot of time to do that,04 14
Washburn and other loggers say the wood burning energy plants help promote good forestry, because they provide a market for ‘low grade’ wood. The loggers say this market encourages timberland owners to cut down undesirable trees, and let higher quality trees grow uninhibited.
The AES biomass plants are part of a group of six wood energy plants scattered throughout the state. The plants sell all their power to Public Service of New Hampshire. State regulations require the utility to buy from these plants. But those same regulations require PSNH to buy the power at about 13 cents per kilowatt-hour, nearly twice the price for electricity on the open market. Those regulations, or rate orders are scheduled to last for several more years, but Martin Murray says PSNH has agreed, in principle, to buy out the contracts with the two AES facilities and one other, located in Contoocook.
18 51 ….Those agreements, if approved, would result in customer savings of 40 million dollars. Under the agreements, we would no longer be obligated to buy wood fired power from the plants, but they would still be free to sell it. 18 122
The agreements aren’t final yet because they must be approved by the PUC before they can go into effect. The details of the buyout are not being made public by the regulators.
In the meantime, AES officials have not decided whether they will continue running the plants after the buyouts are completed. Paul Stinson, Vice president of AES Corporation, says the company bought the Whitefield and Springfield plants as part of AES’s acquisition of Thermo Ekotek, which owned these plants and others in California. Stinson says all he can say now is that AES will not shut the plants down in the short run.
34 Well, our plan would be to operate them to the extent that its economical to do so in the current energy market, here in new England. To the extent that its not economical, we would shut them down or sell them. 34 14
Loggers, sawmill owners, and others inside New Hampshire’s forest industry want state lawmakers to do something to keep the plants open, to sustain the market for low grade wood. State lawmakers have heard their concerns, and they are sympathetic, but they are also adamant that the price of electricity needs to be reduced. Representative Jeb Bradley is a key architect of the state’s deregulation law. Bradley says the state will do what it can to keep the plants open, as long as the steps needed are reasonable.
33 148…one of the discussions that’s going to happen over the next several months is, is it appropriate to continue to pay above market prices for this electricity in order to keep indigenous fuel source and fuel diversity alive in nh, and I think the answer to that is probably ‘yes’. It is appropriate to pay somewhat over the prevailing price for electricity. But, I don’t think its appropriate to pay the very high prices we’ve been paying for the last 10 or 12 years. 33 218 ….
Lawmakers won’t be able to decide the issue until the PUC issues it’s ruling on the proposed agreement between PSNH and AES. That decision is expected sometime in the fall.
For NHPR news, I’m DD
