Category Archives: Florida

What does Adage giving up on Florida mean to south Georgia?


Wesley Langdale, left, President of The Langdale Company, and Reed Wills, right, President of ADAGE, pose at the ADAGE press announcement.
Is Adage giving up on building biomass plants in Gretna, Florida a year ago and in Hamilton County, Florida this year good news for Lowndes County, Georgia, just north of the Florida border?

When Adage announced their proposed Hamilton County, Florida biomass site in May 2009, they already had something Wiregrass Power LLC has never achieved:

“…and The Langdale Company for the supply of waste wood to the project.

“Renewable energy is the next frontier for the working forest, which has been creating jobs and cleaning our air and water for generations,” said Wesley Langdale, President of The Langdale Company. “Working with partners such as AREVA and Duke Energy gives our 115-year-old company confidence in the viability and sustainability of the project.” Langdale and ADAGE made this announcement during the Forest Landowners Association annual conference in Amelia Island.

Hamilton County, Florida is of course just across the state line from Lowndes County, Georgia, home of The Langdale Company. What will removing the nearby competition do for Wiregrass Power LLC’s proposed biomass plant in Lowndes County, Georgia, which still has no suppliers of wood? Will Adage’s failure to build any biomass plants ever serve as a model? Or will something else happen?

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Shell companies: Adage and Wiregrass Power LLC

Look through the shell companies like Adage to the real backers. Why is the source of the recent news about Adage biomass plants being cancelled the Charlotte Business Journal? Adage is “An Areva/Duke Energy advanced biopower company.” And Charlotte is where Duke Energy is based.

John Downey concludes his article in the Charlotte Business Journal of 16 March 2011:

The joint venture has yet to build a biomass plant anywhere. DePonty says it is clear that Adage will not achieve the goal announced when Duke and Areva formed it to build 10 to 12 biomass plants around the country by 2013.
Seems like the biomass gold rush is fizzling.

Meanwhile, back in Valdosta, Wiregrass Power LLC, the shell company for the biomass plant, is owned by Sterling Planet, whose founder and chairman Sonny Murphy spoke at the groundbreaking for the Wiregrass Solar LLC plant, another Sterling Planet subsidiary. I’m sure Chairman Murphy is aware that his solar plant is already completed while his biomass plant still has no suppliers of raw materials, goods, or services nor buyers for its electricity. Also, the biomass plant site preparation start date is now 1 June 2011, when, if I’m not mistaken, it used to be January 2011. And at the most recent VLCIA board meeting, the only mention I heard of biomass was by a citizen who spoke against it while the VLCIA’s project manager spoke at some length about the completion of the solar plant. Seems to me building out the solar plant in two directions, like VLCIA discussed at a previous board meeting, would make the most sense at this point. I guess we’ll see what Chairman Murphy does.

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Adage and Gretna’s mayor

That previous plant in Florida was the one in Gretna, Gadsden County, Florida, cancelled last year, according to John Downey in the Charlotte Business Journal, 16 October 2010. In the Gretna case, the mayor of Gretna posted a press release 16 March 2010 saying:
Mayor Anthony Baker of the City of Gretna announced today that in light of Adage, LLC’s decision to suspend activity on its proposed Bioenergy facility slated for construction in Gretna (as well as suspension of its application for an air permit through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection) that the City now considers this matter closed and will take no further action on Adage’s request to locate this facility in Gretna. Inasmuch as the Bioenergy Plant could neither legally operate nor be sited in Gretna without an air permit, the City concluded that this was no longer a viable project and Adage’s decision to suspend activity on its air permit indicated that further consideration of the project by the City was unwarranted. Since there were no issues pending before the City of Gretna requiring action by its Commission relative to the Plant, the Mayor deemed termination of the project as final disposition of this matter as far as the City is concerned.
This is despite promises of jobs, jobs, jobs: Continue reading →

No Adage biomass plant in Hamilton County, Florida

According to Power-Gen Worldwide, Plans for biomass power plant ends:
The company still has a permit to build a 55 MW plant in Florida but there are no plans to start construction and the company is expected to let the permit lapse in June. Adage ended plans in 2010 to build another plant in Florida.

Why is Adage giving up on Hamilton County, Florida? Christopher Dunagan writes in Kitsap Sun:

Meanwhile, a similar project by Adage in Northern Florida also will not be pursued at this time, according to DePonty. That project has been fully permitted and was about to move ahead if only the electricity market had provided the financial incentive, he said.
Here’s the Florida air permit. Despite having that air permit and promising jobs, jobs, jobs Adage is apparently not going to build in Hamilton, County, Florida.

The source of the many stories on this appears to be Continue reading →

Joy Towles Ezell: Florida Sierra Club biomass policy

A Sierra Club reply to Brad Lofton, copied to the Valdosta Board of Education and others.

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From: Joy Towles Ezell
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 20:27:54 -0700 (PDT)

As the former Conservation Chair and the former Energy Chair of the Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club, and as the former Energy Chair of the Big Bend Group of the Florida Chapter, I must “set the record straight”. Today’s National Sierra Club policy is not as strong as the Florida Chapter’s policy was against burning biomass. I can speak only to Florida’s SC policy, so I submit to you the policies of the Florida Chapter and the Big Bend Group concerning the burning of biomass during my tenure, with our press release concerning the now defeated biomass plant in Tallahassee:

The Florida Chapter Policies were also published, in part, in The Pelican, Spring 2004, the official Florida Chapter newsletter.

Here is the Chapter policy on ‘biomass.’

Florida Chapter Sierra Club policy opposes biomass production:

“We continue to oppose the development of biomass production as an
alternative to solar and wind power. Biomass production depletes the
environment by decreasing topsoil, using more water, fertilizer and
diesel fuel than it is worth and creates more pollution.”
Page 8. http://florida.sierraclub.org/Pelican/spring04.pdf


Continue reading →

Florida Gets Smart About Solar

While Georgia goes for questionable biomass, WCTV reports that CFO Sink Applauds Opening Of Solar Energy Center, Welcomes $200 million in federal funding for Florida.
Florida CFO Alex Sink welcomed the news that a $200 million grant will go to Energy Smart Florida for the installation of 2.6 million smart meters in homes and the installation of advanced monitoring systems in grid substations.

CFO Sink commended President Obama for his commitment to new energy and his visit for the opening of Florida’s DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, the nation’s largest solar photovoltaic plant. CFO Sink released the following statement:

“Florida has been known as the sunshine state because of our beaches, but today we are taking an important step forward in becoming known as the sunshine state because of our commitment to solar and alternative energy. I commend Florida Power & Light for opening the nation’s largest solar photovoltaic plant here in Southwest Florida, and welcome President Obama to our state to see firsthand how we are working to diversify and modernize Florida’s economy.

“I am also extremely excited that Floridians will benefit from a $200 million grant to modernize our energy grid, one of the largest smart grid grants in the country. As Floridians, we are ready to harness our creativity and entrepreneurial energy to make our state a national leader in the development of a 21st century economy.”

South Georgia has just as much sunshine as north Florida. And you can build solar equipment anywhere. For example in a county with I-75 running through it and I-10 nearby. Maybe if Atlanta won’t lead, Valdosta should.