SPI, Puget Sound Energy Team Up

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has teamed up with Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) to purchase 17 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy from SPI’s cogeneration plant at its Burlington sawmill in Mount Vernon, Wash., providing locally generated renewable biomass energy to its customers.

SPI’s cogeneration facility uses wood byproducts from its lumber manufacturing process to generate steam that is then used to make electricity. An air pollution controlling device filters out fine particles and other emissions from the burning wood so that what is released into the atmosphere is clean.

PSE signed a 17-year contract with SPI that starts in 2021 to purchase the excess energy generated after wood waste is burned at the Burlington mill. The mill employs more than 200 and contributes to the $900 million annual economic impact of the forest products industry in Skagit County, Wash.