La. wood pellet plant will include facility at B.R. port

Plans for a $120 million investment in Louisiana by Drax Biomass International Inc. will include a storage and shipping facility at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, company and state officials announced today. Drax Biomass will also build a wood pellet manufacturing plant in the northeastern Louisiana town of Bastrop as part of its total investment in the state. Drax says it will make the pellets in Morehouse Parish, and then ship them from the Baton Rouge port to the United Kingdom, where they’ll be used to generate renewable power. Historically reliant on coal to produce electricity, Drax Biomass’s U.K. parent company Drax Group is advancing plans to transform into a predominantly biomass-fueled generator, burning sustainable biomass in place of coal. LED estimates the $120 million investment will result in 63 new direct jobs and 143 indirect jobs. To construct the manufacturing facility, Drax also expects to generate 250 construction jobs at the peak of the yearlong building phase. Hiring will begin as the construction phase nears completion, estimated to be early in 2014. LED says it began courting Drax to bring the project to Louisiana in January, adding it’s providing the company an incentive package that includes a $1.7 million Economic Development Loan Program commitment that will not require repayment if the company meets payroll performance obligations. LED has more details on today’s announcement at its website here.