Constellation, Procter & Gamble biomass plant nearing completion

A 50-MW, combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plant under construction in Albany, Georgia, for the past two years is undergoing steam tests and is expected to come online this summer.

A local media advisory released by Exelon subsidiary and project partner Constellation Energy indicated the company is testing and cleaning the main steam piping system for the plant, for five to seven days in the timeframe of March 15-31.

Partnered with Constellation for the $200 million CHP plant, Procter & Gamble will expand use of renewable energy at one of its largest papermaking facilities, which manufactures popular brands of paper towels and toilet paper. An existing biomass boiler that has provided 30 percent of the facility’s steam power for the past 30 years will be decommissioned once the new system is online, replaced with Valmet’s circulating fluidized bed boiler technology.

The plant will take in local sources of waste biomass including crop residuals (pecan shells, peanut hulls), discarded tree tops, limbs or branches, and mill waste, according to P&G.

Under partnership terms, Constellation is building and will own and operate the plant, which will meet all of the steam requirements of P&G’s paper manufacturing facility via a 20-year steam supply agreement. It will also power an 8.5-MW steam-to-electricity generator at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, and sell power to local utility Georgia Power.

On schedule, the plant is on track for completion for mid-summer 2017.