Biomass plant proposed in North Springfield

The heyday of the machine tool industry may have passed, but Springfield is now positioned to become home to a new renewable energy plant on the former site of one of its machine tool plants.

Using an aerial map, Winstanley Assets Vice President Ken Grant indicates to Rep. Cynthia Martin, D-Springfield, where Winstanley plans to errect a new biomass power generation station on the company's North Springfied property. The project, which still needs state approval, was announced at a news conference at the Winstanley building in North Springfield on Monday.
Chris Bertelsen Photo

Biomass plant proposed in North Springfield

By KATIE BETH RYAN, Staff Writer, Eagle-Times
Monday, February 09, 2009 7:50 PM

SPRINGFIELD -- The heyday of the machine tool industry may have passed, but Springfield is now positioned to become home to a new renewable energy plant on the former site of one of its machine tool plants.

With Concord, Mass.-based Winstanley Enterprises LLC providing the capital, the North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project will occupy the substation of the former Fellows Gear Shaper site in the North Springfield Industrial Complex and will make approximately 25 megawatts of electricity, enough to satisfy 25,000 homes.

Unveiling the plans for the project during a Monday press conference at the site, Adam Winstanley said that the 22-acre site was chosen partly due to its strategic location in the center of the state.

"It's a great site. It's a flat site," he said. "One interesting ingredient is that we're connected to the (electrical) grid nearby that has benefits for us as well."

It is also a timely development. In 2005, the Vermont Legislature passed the Energy Efficiency and Affordability Act, which stipulates that 20 percent of all new demands on the state's energy load must come from renewable sources by 2017. If approved by the town, the North Springfield plant will incorporate on-site woodchip production, with forest residue as the source of the woodchips, along with a boiler with a steam turbine.

Construction of the plant is expected to take two years at a cost of approximately $150 million, and is expected to provide roughly 100 construction jobs during the process. Winstanley has invested more than $10 million into the 375,000-square-foot former Fellows building, located at 36 Precision Drive. Now home to ADI, Kiosko and Jeld-Wen Windows and Doors, the building already boasts energy-efficient lighting.

"We expect that the fuel harvesting will also be environmentally sound," said Winstanley. "We've gotten excited about a lot of the green initiatives out there...That's where the future of real estate is going."

Bob Flint, executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corporation, said that Winstanley had discussed the project with the town of Springfield for nearly two years before Monday's announcement. The finished plant could provide as many as 150 jobs, Flint added, between the woodchipping process and the energy conversion.

"I think we hear all these stories about bailouts and layoffs and here we are in a building that's vibrant and alive," he said.

Winstanley said that his firm began to eye Springfield as a potential site for a renewable energy project after the company rehabbed the Country Kitchen bakery off of Interstate 91 in Brattleboro.

"I'd never heard of Springfield before," he said. "I just thought it was a great building and a good candidate for a rehab."

Most of those present said they were intrigued by the renewable energy capabilities of the proposed plant. State Rep. Ernest Shand said that his hope was that it would ease the current energy burden in the state and reduce reliance upon the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon.

"You hear talk about wind generation, but you have to build a line on the mountaintop," he said. "This is right here."

http://www.eaglepublicationsinc.com/ET/Story/090209ph-kbr-spfldBiomassplant2009-02-09T19-14-51