Washington’s newest renewable energy facility, a 55-megawatt (MW) biomass cogeneration plant, has begun commercial operations, its owners said.

The facility is the result of a partnership between Iberdrola Renewables and Simpson Tacoma Kraft Company, LLC to develop and build a renewable energy cogeneration facility, located at Simpson’s pulp and paper mill in Tacoma, Washington.

Simpson has invested approximately US $90 million in the project, including $20 million in new construction jobs. The facility uses a combination of wood-based biomass and wood lignin recovered from the pulping process to produce fuels. The biomass-based fuels will generate steam to power a steam turbine that will produce renewable energy while providing process steam to the mill itself.

The facility generates enough energy to meet the electricity needs of approximately 38,000 homes annually. Iberdrola Renewables has sold the electricity generated from the facility to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

Simpson has been in the forest products business since 1890. The company operates four wood product manufacturing plants, a pulp and paper mill, and a door manufacturing plant in Washington. Simpson also owns two door manufacturing facilities in South Carolina, and one in Georgia.

Iberdrola Renewables is the world’s leading provider of wind power, with 10,003 MW of total installed capacity, including more than 3,000 MW in the United States.


- Natassia Y. Laforteza