NEW GREENWOOD PLANT BEHIND SCHEDULE, BUT COMING ALONG
Thursday, September 1st, 2011 -- 10:28 AM
A new business won?t meet its goal of opening a plant in Greenwood this year, but the project is moving forward.Last fall, representatives from Caseus Energy announced plans to build a first-of-its-kind plant in Greenwood, which will turn whey from the cheese-making process into ethanol and a high quality dry yeast byproduct.
Their hope was to build and open the plant on Division Street by now, but Mayor Jim Schecklman says it?s taking a bit longer than expected.
"It is a large-scale process. It's very involved," he says. "I think the engineering took a significant amount of time."
There will be progress Thursday night when the city opens bids for ?phase one? of the project, which includes developing the necessary infrastructure to the site, located near the city?s water tower.
The second phase of the project ? the actual construction of the plant ? should start before winter sets in.
"Technically, they're phase one and phase two, but I think they may end up overlapping a little bit, if possible," Schecklman says. "I think they're looking at getting that cement poured this year before the snow falls."
If all goes as planned, the building will be under construction over the winter.
Schecklman says city officials have had weekly meetings with Caseus via the telephone and he remains very optimistic about the future of the new business, which will employ around 30 people.
At its peak, the facility will receive 20 milk trucks full of whey every day and will be capable of producing 3-million gallons of ethanol and 3-million pounds of dry yeast annually, according to plant officials.
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