ReEnergy enters Maine’s biomass market
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
ReEnergy Holdings LLC, an Albany, N.Y.-based renewable energy company, has acquired a portfolio of five U.S. biomass energy-production facilities in Maine and New York from Quebec-based Boralex Inc., for approximately $88 million.
In November, ReEnergy announced it had reached an agreement with Boralex to acquire the U.S. facilities. The sale was finalized in December.
“We are very pleased to complete the acquisition of Boralex’s facilities and welcome their loyal employees to our ReEnergy team. We are also pleased to become a corporate citizen of Maine, where the biomass industry is one of the backbones of the state’s economy,” said Larry Richardson, ReEnergy’s chief executive officer.
The deal excludes about $5 million that will be cashed from the sale of the 2011 RECs that remained the property of Boralex.
“This strategic transaction for the development of Boralex will allow us to invest the funds received into new energy projects with long-term contracts, both in Canada and Europe — mainly in wind, hydroelectric and solar segments,” said Patrick Lemaire, Boralex president and CEO, adding, “The success of this transaction, which creates value for our shareholders, is largely based on the efforts of Boralex’s employees in recent years to optimize these assets.”
The newly-acquired facilities in Maine are ReEnergy Ashland (a 40-megawatt facility), ReEnergy Fort Fairfield (36 megawatts), ReEnergy Livermore Falls (40 megawatts) and ReEnergy Stratton (50 megawatts). The New York facility, ReEenergy Chateaugay, has a 20-megawatt generating facility. The facilities rely principally on forest residue to produce renewable energy.
ReEnergy officials are looking forward to their new venture and being part of a growing ‘green’ industry in the U.S.
“We look forward to being an exemplary corporate citizen in these five communities. As we carry out our strategy of building an integrated renewable energy company in the U.S., we are creating economic opportunity, generating clean, reliable, cost-effective renewable energy, and providing it to the communities and businesses in these regions,” said Tom Beck, ReEnergy’s chief commercial officer.
Inclusive of this acquisition, ReEnergy will employ approximately 260 employees in four states, and operate a total energy portfolio of 240 megawatts.
