Biomass Plant to Benefit Grafton County

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Created on Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:31

Written by Katelyn Zenie

HAVERHILL, NH - After spending 35 million dollars, and four long years of putting this project in motion, Grafton County in New Hampshire can finally celebrate the start of the biomass plant they are installing in the area.

The plant will heat the county nursing home, courthouse, and correctional facility. The term biomass refers to organic matters that has stored energy throughout the process of photosynthesis. Biomass exists in the form of plants and may transfer the the food chain to animals and their waste, all of which can be changed for human use through the process of combustion. Combustion releases the carbon dioxide stored in plants, which fuels biomass plants. The Grafton plant will use wood chips, branches, and everything in between, instead of heating oil.

Biomass has become one of the most commonly used renewable energy sources in the last two decades because of its indigenous and natural makeup. Biomass is also a much less expensive source of heat then oil, with no exception on Grafton.

"Let's not worry about the dollars," said Michael Cryans, one of the Grafton County Commissioners. "[Let's talk] about gallons, about ninety thousand gallons, and the projection is that we'll get down around ten thousand gallons. That's eighty thousand gallons savings. Environmentally, it's a phenomenal savings."

Even better then the fact that the project is underway, is that the town did not have to raise any funds for the project. Instead, it was funded by the money left over from the construction of the county jail.

"The biomass project is a $2.7 million dollar project," said Julie Clough, the project's executive director. We received $378,500 from the department of energy, so that money's put toward the project. So that leaves the county having to fund about $2.3 million, so... the $2.3 million will come from the monies that were left over from the jail project."

Lastly, in addition to not putting funds into the project, many community members are excited to know that the plant will be providing new jobs for loggers in the area.

"As everybody's saying, it is a win-win for the county," said former Grafton County Commissioner Martha Richards. "The thought of having some loggers employed, indefinitely, that can maybe get a loan from the bank to pay off a new truck, it just goes on and on and on, because they'll be permanently employed with us, due to the renewable and sustainable resource that we've got right here at our back door."

The community is excited and hopeful that the complex won't be under construction for much longer.