December 22, 2008
Cobb Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) today announced that it is participating with Green Power EMC, a not-for-profit cooperative founded to support EMCs in the search for Georgia-based renewable power resources, in the group's plans to purchase 17 Megawatts (MW) of biomass electricity from Multitrade Rabun Gap (MRG) LLC.
Located in Rabun Gap, the project will utilize woody waste as the primary fuel, which will be provided by the local forest industry.
The biomass plant will be sited at an existing power plant in an idled Fruit of the Loom manufacturing facility. When completed, the $21.5 million facility will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 10,000 homes.
The plant is expected to become operational in August 2009. Putting the power plant back into service creates approximately 20 jobs for people to operate the plant and an additional 75 jobs for people needed to gather and transport biomass to the facility.
The power purchase agreement is part of Green Power EMC's mission to research and deliver renewable energy options from Georgia resources such as biomass, solar, wind and low-impact hydro. MRG, an affiliate of Multitrade Biomass Holdings in Ridgeway, Va., is a special purpose entity formed to construct and operate the biomass plant.
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