BY MIKE FAHER
The booming wood-pellet industry is bringing 45 new full-time jobs to Johnstown.
State officials on Monday announced a $500,000 grant for First Nation Wood Pellets LLC, which is proposing a new manufacturing plant that would churn out 78,000 tons of pellets annually.
“We’re definitely excited to be bringing alternative energy options to this area,” said Lauren Burkert Lazzari, who directs the Johnstown office of Investar Redevelopment, an entity involved in the project.
The plant will represent an investment of more than $5 million in Johnstown, said David Dunham, president and chief executive officer of Worcester, Mass.-based Investar.
Some details have not yet been released, and the facility’s exact location is not clear.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said the plant will occupy a building formerly used by Bethlehem Steel Corp.
Lazzari said she is working with local development agencies and hopes to release more information soon.
With the high price of oil and natural gas, wood pellets – which generally are made from recycled sawdust – are gaining popularity as a secondary home-heating source.
“It’s a very good industry,” Lazzari said.
“There’s lot of demand in this area.”
That also is true nationwide. The New York Times reported last month that pellet-stove shipments more than tripled in the first six months of this year when compared with the same period last year.
And the Arlington, Va.-based Pellet Fuels Institute says some retailers this summer “reported that their pellet orders were ‘going out the door as soon as they arrive.”
Dunham acknowledged that a pellet consumer’s fuel savings depends on the price of oil, which has dropped dramatically in recent weeks.
But he said demand for wood pellets remains high.
“It’s a much more cost-efficient heating source than oil, and it’s also more energy efficient,” Dunham said.
