Wood chip boiler to heat SAD 20 schools
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
A DEDICATION CEREMONY was held last Wednesday at Fort Fairfield Middle/High School during the school district’s open house for the new $1.7 million wood chip fired boiler. The facility will be called the James E. Everett Biomass Energy Plant. Everett is SAD 20’s physical plant supervisor and was instrumental in the planning process. Presenting Everett, right, with a replica sign is Superintendent Marc Gendron.
AN OPEN HOUSE 
was held last Wednesday at Fort Fairfield Middle/High School giving community members the opportunity to see the school district’s new $1.7 million wood chip fired boiler. According to SAD 20 Superintendent Marc Gendron, the district had expected to save $100,923 a year by converting to wood chips, but due to a deal on the chips, he anticipates an annual savings of $117,400. The central wood biomass heating plant is located directly behind the middle/senior high school on the opposite side of the gymnasium.
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
FORT FAIRFIELD — With the commissioning of a new wood chip fired boiler, SAD 20 will no longer have to rely solely on oil to heat its buildings.
The school district held an open house last Wednesday to showcase the $1,796,142 facility.
“Groundbreaking began last November,” said Superintendent Marc Gendron, “and the project was finished Oct. 1, 2012, and we fired it up at that time. We just finished all the paperwork on the grant, and everything is done and the boiler is working well.”
The central wood biomass heating plant — combined with several energy conservation measures in both the middle/high and elementary schools, which include new domestic hot water heating systems and Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) on pumps — are projected to save $117,415 in energy costs in the first year of operation based on predicted and historical energy costs.
“It was a lot of work, but it was worth it,” said Gendron. “The project is done, and I’m thrilled with the way it’s working. Both the elementary and middle/high schools will be completely heated with the boiler, and we still have 10,000 gallons of oil in the ground that we won’t have to burn for four or five years, but will be a good reserve for us in case the price goes up.
“This project is an insurance policy. If the price of oil goes way up, we would have been totally dependent on that and would have uncontrollable costs that would have made it difficult for us to plan,” he said. “With a project like this, yes the price of wood could be a variable, but we’re working on a three-year contract, so I think we’re going to have a little more price security. We have variety of what kind of chips we can burn, and that gives us more flexibility in the long run, too.”
SAD 20 had previously been spending between $135,000 and $150,000 annually for oil. Gendron said the district had expected to save $100,923 a year by converting to wood chips, but due to a deal on the chips, he anticipates an annual savings of $117,400.
The wood chips are being purchased from Columbia Forest Products in Presque Isle.
“We’re not buying paper grade chips and we’re not competing with the paper industry and driving up costs,” said Gendron. “The chips that we ended up using are really waste chips that there’s not a lot of market for.”
Gendron said he’s happy SAD 20 won’t be relying on oil in the near future.
“I know we’re just a small community in a small state, but here’s one small community in one small state that won’t be importing foreign oil or using up domestic reserves for the next 30 years,” he said. “This project combines the best of both worlds. It’s green, we’re shopping local and used local contractors during the construction phase, and it will save us money. It was a triple win situation.”
The biomass boiler project was awarded a competitive ARRA grant for $500,000 through the Maine Forestry Service/Department of Conservation. The facility is located directly behind the middle/senior high school on the opposite side of the gymnasium.
“All the heat is generated in the boiler plant and it goes into our regular boiler distribution system to heat the middle/high school, and then there’s 1,400 feet of pre-insulated plastic pipe that carries the hot water to the elementary school,” Gendron said, “where it will enter the school, circulate through the elementary school, and then come back to the heating plant.
“We are not going to burn a drop of oil to heat our major buildings,” he said. “The wood chip boiler will replace 95 percent of the 41,696 gallons of heating oil used annually at both schools. We’ll never reach 100 percent because we have a few out-buildings, but the major school buildings will be heated thanks to the wood chips.”
Because the pre-insulated pipe is about four feet underground, the installation process somewhat disrupted the school’s soccer season.
“The grass seed that was planted after the pipe was laid didn’t take, so we’ll have to do that again in the spring,” said Gendron, “and that might disrupt the softball schedule and limit us as to the number of night games we can have because the pipe goes under the field with lights.”
During the open house, the biomass boiler was dedicated to Jim Everett, physical plant supervisor at SAD 20.
“Jim has done a tremendous amount of work both on this project and for Fort Fairfield,” said Gendron. “He’s an asset to the district — and the town — and I’m happy the facility will be called the James E. Everett Biomass Energy Plant. He deserves it.”
For his part, Everett called the dedication a “very nice honor.”
“I don’t do this stuff to be recognized; I do it because it’s our community and it needs to be done,” he said. “I think people should do the best they can for their community.
“This is a good feeling of accomplishment. The community will see a little bit of savings, and maybe we can put that money back into the school system,” said Everett. “Our population isn’t growing and we can use every bit of savings we can get.”
