Southern Co. To Build TX Biomass Facility

Southern Power, a Southern Company (NYSE: SO) subsidiary that manages and owns wholesale generation assets, has acquired a 100-megawatts (MW) biomass project for an undisclosed amount from American Renewables, LLC.

Southern Power expects to spend between $475 million and $500 million completing the Nacogdoches Generating Facility, which is located in Sacul, Texas and will provide power to Austin Energy. The city of Austin, Texas, has a 30% renewable energy goal.

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 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.

The plant is expected to go on line in the summer of 2012.

The Nacogdoches plant is one of two Southern Company biomass projects. The Georgia Public Service Commission in March approved Georgia Power’s application to convert its 96 MW Plant Mitchell near Albany, Ga., to biomass.

Southern Company said it is evaluating the feasibility of converting five additional coal plants to biomass as well.

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

Atlanta-based Southern Company has 4.4 million customers and more than 42,000 MW of generating capacity.