Southern Power Starts Work on Texas Biomass Plant; Among Nation's Largest

Southern Power - a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company - acquires, builds, manages and owns wholesale generation assets, plans to build one of the nation's largest biomass-fueled projects in Nacogdoches.

Southern Power acquired the 100-megawatt Nacogdoches Generating Facility from American Renewables, LLC in October, noting at the time that it would move ahead with construction and bring the plant on line in the summer of 2012. The plant's output is committed to Austin Energy in a 20-year agreement that will help the city of Austin meet a 30-percent renewable energy goal.

Construction of the Nacogdoches facility will take about 32 months and will generate about 300 construction jobs. Approximately 40 permanent jobs will be created to operate the plant.

Total cost of the project will be between $475 million and $500 million. The plant, which will be built on 165 acres, will be fueled with biomass materials, including forest residue from the surrounding areas, wood processing residues and clean municipal wood waste. The project will require approximately 1 million tons of fuel annually, which is planned to be procured within a 75-mile radius of the project site.