Robert McClenachan, president of Access Energy, and Ron Bixby, president of Ludlow Economic Corp., announce a pending sale of 20 acres in the Dean Brown Industrial Park. Photo: KIM SMITH DEDAM / RUTLAND HERALD

LUDLOW — A plan to build a $45 million power plant that would burn woodchips and generate 20 megawatts of power was announced Thursday in Ludlow.

Access Energy LLC, a renewable energy company based in Park City, Utah, said the facility would be built on the last 20 acres in the Dean Brown Industrial Park, owned by the Ludlow Economic Corp. Access Energy also has offices in Rutland.

Ron Bixby, president of the local economic agency, said the new power plant would add 150 construction jobs through an 18-month building phase, up to 22 full-time permanent jobs and about 70 local jobs in supplying and transporting woodchips.

"On top of that, a clean energy project like this is the kind of business we need in Vermont," Bixby said. "The project encompasses the goals of Act 61, a renewable energy law that Vermont Governor James Douglas recently signed, requiring electric utilities to purchase cleaner energy sources."

Access Energy anticipates a one-year permit phase to be followed by an 18-month construction phase, putting the Ludlow plant online by early 2008.

It will be Access Energy's first power plant operation in Vermont, said Robert McClenachan, company president.

The company operates four other plants — powered by gas from landfills — in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. It plans to build another woodchip plant in Connecticut; that one will enter the preconstruction phase "about three months behind this one," McClenachan said.

The Ludlow plant would also employ a forester to make sure the wood chips are harvested with the environment in mind, McClenachan said.

Several manufacturing and industrial operations surround a wooded property where the power plant would be built.

A railroad line provides an important western boundary. Luzenac, a talc mine, operates at the southern edge of the vacant lot and the Ludlow Wastewater Treatment Plant borders the eastern edge.

Jeld-Wen, a door and window manufacturing plant, and LaValley's Building Supply neighbor the lot to the northeast.

Bixby said Ludlow had the right amount of land next to a railroad line, which will be the primary supply line for wood and wood products.

Access Energy has not signed any power purchase agreements, but will begin negotiations immediately.

"The new plant would also provide stable long-term pricing to the region," Bixby said.

One concern was raised about particles released in wood-burning operations.

McClenachan said the plant would be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to remove the particles.

He also said woodchip power generation includes a closed-loop system for cooling and re-circulating water through the plant.

No wastewater or water byproducts would be added to Ludlow's wastewater treatment load, McClenachan said.

The proposed power plant in Ludlow would closely resemble a 20-megawatt woodchip plant McClenachan helped build for Catamount Power in Ryegate 14 years ago. That plant is now owned and operated by Central Vermont Public Service Corp.

Vermont has a third wood-burning power plant, the 50-megawatt McNeil station in Burlington.

The land sale agreement for the Ludlow plant took two months to reach and provided no financial incentive or tax breaks, according to Town Manager Frank Heald.

"It was just the right place at the right time, kind of like love at first sight."

Contact Kim Smith Dedam at kim.dedam@rutlandherald.com.