Solutions
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Craven County Wood Energy
New Bern, North Carolina
Performance
Generates ~360,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity annually
Capacity
Powered by 530,000+ tons of wood waste annually
Planet
The plant provides the facility’s ash byproduct as a fertilizer substitute for liming area farmers’ fields
Overview
Craven County Wood Energy is a 50-megawatt (MW) biomass-fueled power plant located near New Bern, North Carolina.
Craven County Wood Energy is a renewable energy facility that uses biomass waste – primarily bark and sawdust from local pulp, paper and lumber mills and nonmarketable biomass from lumbering and agricultural operations – to produce electricity.
Solutions
Electric output is sold pursuant to a power purchase agreement with Duke Energy. The facility can produce enough electricity to power about 50,000 homes. Craven County Wood Energy converts up to 121,000 tons of poultry waste annually into clean, renewable energy and is Duke Energy’s largest supplier of poultry renewable energy credits (RECs) in North Carolina. The RECs enable Duke Energy to substantiate renewable energy use claims relative to North Carolina’s renewable portfolio standard, which requires utilities to produce 0.21 percent of their annual electric generation from poultry waste.
Key Goals & Results
The carbon-neutral plant supports forest health, mitigates greenhouse gases, conserves landfill space and creates renewable energy to support eastern North Carolina’s electric grid. The facility’s ash byproduct is provided as a fertilizer substitute to local farmers liming their fields.
The plant also helps power Craven County’s timber industry. Beyond the plant’s 30 employees, Craven County Wood Energy creates and sustains nearly 100 timber industry jobs, from foresters to truck drivers, welders, boilermakers and more.
Commercial operation began in 1990.
