ASHLAND, Maine — Crews at the ReEnergy biomass power plants in Ashland and Fort Fairfield spent part of this week repairing damage from separate severe storms that moved through the area, knocking both plants offline “three or four different times,” according to Regional Manager Mark Thibodeau. The storms also damaged company equipment.
Thibodeau said Friday the severe thunder and lightning storms that affected the transmission grids came through “at the end of last week.” He said that crews from Emera Maine and from the company’s in-house team repaired damage at both the Ashland and Fort Fairfield plants, which together employ approximately 50 people.
“We had the in-house maintenance staff fixing our scale system that weighs the trucks on Monday and Tuesday,” he said. “That was completely fried.”
Both plants were operating normally Friday.
ReEnergy purchased the Ashland plant and three others, in Fort Fairfield, Livermore Falls and Stratton, from Montreal-based Boralex Industries Inc. in December 2011 for about $93 million. Prior to purchasing the Ashland plant, the 39-megawatt biomass plant had been idled since March 2011.
Thibodeau declined to disclose how much revenue was lost as a result of the storms.
