State funds unspent but designated for a biomass resource facility as part of a two‑year contract that was awarded in 2016 by the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to Stored Solar, which operates a biomass plant in Jonesboro, are the focus of a bill that would divert those funds to other projects. The legislature held a public hearing on LD 1745, An Act Regarding a Biomass‑generated Energy Purchase and Sale Agreement and Payment to Contractors, on February 8 to hear from Stored Solar and other interested parties. A work session held by the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee on March 7 hammered out details of the bill's content.
     Along with a proposal for what to do with funds targeted to the biomass industry that were supposed to have been spent within a two‑year period starting in 2016, the bill also requires the PUC to ask the attorney general to investigate Stored Solar LLC and institute any proceedings against the company to "recover from Stored Solar LLC an amount equal to the amount of those funds distributed to contractors by the commission pursuant to this legislation."
     If the bill is successful as written in passing the House and Senate, it would set up a fund with Efficiency Maine to administrate any remaining funds to be used as incentives and loans for new wood‑based biofuel installation projects, but that can be at existing facilities. The committee included language specifying that funds could not be used to refurbish or repair existing equipment. Because the PUC will be required to determine how much of the original funds Stored Solar utilized and how much, if any, it does not qualify for, the total amount of the proposed fund is not yet known. However, it could be used by businesses, municipalities, schools and more to install high‑efficiency wood boilers and furnaces among other types of equipment. In addition, the bill would require that if there are outstanding Stored Solar payments to contractors, they would be paid with the unspent funds.

A two‑year program to assists biomass
     Stored Solar was one of two firms that qualified to receive $13.4 million in funding to assist the biomass industry. The funds were approved by the legislature in 2016 specifically to help bolster an industry that had suffered severely from the closure of many paper mills and biomass generating plants. However, problems at Stored Solar soon came to the fore, with reports by contractors that they were not getting paid in a timely manner. After its January 2017 start, the Jonesboro plant was placed offline temporarily in mid‑March of that year "due to a lack of biomass feedstock," stated Stored Solar Vice President William Harrington in a March 27, 2017, letter to the PUC. Stored Solar's letter was in response to a March 22 PUC letter requesting an update on the company's operations and financial status.
     As part of the December 2017 public hearing testimony, Stored Solar's attorney, William Hewitt, submitted a letter that said in part, "LD 1745 seeks to break the Stored Solar contract at its mid‑point based on assertions that Stored Solar has failed to meet its contractual obligations." He states that the company has met its obligation to: run above 50% capacity; pay its suppliers; create and sustain 42 full‑time equivalent jobs; and make at least $2.5 million in capital improvements during 2017. In addition, he noted the change in agreement that Stored Solar reached with the PUC to amend the terms of how it is paid with state funds. He says the company "will not receive a dime in compensation unless and until the PUC confirms compliance. In other words, if Stored Solar does not perform, it does not get paid."
     However, Dana Doran, executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, came to the heart of the matter with his testimony on the bill. When the funding to support the biomass industry for two years was enacted in 2016, "it was our understanding that its intent was to incentivize markets and ensure that the money would have an immediate impact over the course of no more than two years. It has been nearly two years since this legislation was passed, and for the two companies that received the funding, one has met every expectation in the law, and the other is the basis for why we are here today."
     ReEnergy Regional Manager Mark Thibodeau, who is with the other company referenced by Dana to receive two‑year funding for its biomass generating plants, stated that the funds "created a critical lifeline" for the operations of ReEnergy's four plants. As an example of what the influx of two years of funding has supported, he outlined that the company employs about 100 people and supports hundreds more in the logging and trucking industries. The plants create 1.2 million megawatt‑hours of electricity annually; have achieved certification to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard; and since late 2011 have spent more than $500 million in capital and operating expenses in Maine.

Jonesboro plant's history
     When in October 2016 Stored Solar purchased from Covanta Energy its two biomass generating plants, one in Jonesboro and one in West Enfield, hopes were high that it would infuse much-needed demand in the state's logging and biomass industries, particularly in Washington County. In the Jonesboro plant's heyday it used about 250,000 green tons of biomass, supplied by about 12 vendors. At full capacity of 85‑95% it operated around the clock, seven days a week, and supplied 23 to 24 megawatts of electricity and employed about 21 people.
     The Jonesboro plant and its sister plant in West Enfield were formerly co‑owned by Ridgewood Maine LLC and Indeck Energy Services Inc. The plant began commercial operation in 1987 but was shut down from 1995 to 2001 because of conditions in the electric power market. The plant was built to accept forest‑related biomass such as wood chips, bark, tree limbs and tops and mill residue. In late 2008 Covanta Energy Corporation purchased the two plants and then sold them to Stored Solar.
     Along with supporting the biomass industry in the state, Stored Solar had stated its plans to create co‑generation facilities at the plants through an investment partner, Synthesis Venture Fund Partners. Such co‑generation expansion would meet the new requirements of the renewable energy credit marketplace.
     However, the testimony of logger George Moon of TJ Timber Products LLC of Hancock illustrated some of the difficulties that arose between Stored Solar and contractors supplying biomass. He explained that payments for his company's deliveries of wood chips were delayed by four months, causing his company hardship. His company has been in operation for 21 years and had done business with the previous owners of the Stored Solar plants. "This really is no way to do business if you want loggers to haul their product into your facility. Waiting 90 to 120‑plus days to get payment and for them to still want you to supply them with biomass."