Firm to Bolster Wood Pellet Heating Option
By Anne Ravana, Bangor Daily News, Maine
May 10–Spokesmen for Gov. John Baldacci and the state Office of Energy Independence and Security are calling a new business that plans to deliver wood pellets and install wood pellet boilers in homes throughout the Northeast a cost-effective option for consumers weary of high oil prices.
“The marketplace needs to decide whether it’s ready, but we think it has great potential,” David Farmer, Baldacci’s spokesman, said Friday. “We believe we have great opportunities in our wind, our wood and our water for clean, renewable power generation.”
Les Otten, a Maine ski tycoon turned energy investor, has announced his latest venture — Maine Energy Systems, a Bethel-based business that aims to introduce wood pellet boilers to at least 10 percent of all homes in Maine in the next five years.
Wood pellet boilers can replace most existing heating systems or serve as a secondary heating source, Otten said Friday.
He said he plans to hire and train people around the state, including in Bangor, to install the systems beginning this summer. He also intends to offer his services to homeowners in New Hampshire and eastern Canada.
The boiler systems Otten hopes to install are manufactured by Bosch Thermotechnology in New Hampshire, a branch of the German appliance company Bosch.
The wood pellets themselves are about 6 millimeters in diameter and are made from compressed waste wood, such as chips and sawdust. Their density allows them to burn efficiently and relatively cleanly.
Pellets are usually packaged in 40-pound bags and sold by the bag or by the ton, but so far Maine has not had delivery services for pellets like those that exist for oil. The average Maine home would burn seven to eight tons of pellets per year, and pellets cost about $240 per ton, according to Ian Burnes, spokesman for the state Office of Energy Independence and Security.
Burnes said Friday that the best way to reduce heating costs is to invest in weatherproofing one’s home, but he said it is “fantastic” that the state is seeing more options for heating methods.
“The most proven and sound way to save money is to make sure that you’re not wasting any money. After that, looking at fuel switching is a very good idea,” Burnes said “If your burner is at the end of its life, this is a very good option.”
Burnes confirmed Otten’s statements that wood pellet boilers can produce the same amount of energy as oil systems for about half the price.
Otten recently installed a wood pellet boiler in his own 4,500-square-foot home in Bethel and said the process cost him about $12,000. He had been heating with propane previously and said he saved about $2,500 this past heating season with his new system, which he predicts will pay for itself in four or five years.
Otten has begun to set up loan programs at banks in an effort to make his systems affordable. Northeast Bank in Lewiston is one financial institution that has agreed to offer loans at low interest rates, Otten said.
Jamie Py, president of the Maine Oil Dealers’ Association, pointed out that the price of pellets may not stay low forever.
“We understand that people in Maine would want to look at alternatives” to oil, Py said Friday. “At the same time, we [oil dealers] may end up selling wood pellets. We’re in the distribution business.”
The $10 million Otten has invested to start his new business may not come as a surprise to those who know him. He is the former owner of the Sunday River ski area in Newry. He later founded American Skiing Co. and expanded his resorts to include Killington, Mount Snow, Haystack, Waterville Valley and Sugarloaf/USA. He has since left that operation.
Otten is also a former vice chairman and a minority partner of the Boston Red Sox. He sold his shares in the franchise last year.
This year, Baldacci appointed Otten a co-leader of his Wood to Energy Initiative, which promotes the use of wood pellets and wood chips as heating fuel. When asked why his interests have shifted to energy, Otten said: “It’s a combination of being concerned about the environment and seeing this as a business opportunity. We need a stronger economic base, we need more jobs and we need to keep money in Maine.” He was referring to the money Mainers spend on foreign oil.
Otten said he and his business partners, Harry “Dutch” Dresser of Bethel and William Strauss of Albany Township, spent almost two years discussing ways to reduce Maine’s dependence on oil.
“We think this is a large social science experiment. We feel kind of like the guys starting the first recycling plant,” Otten said.
For information about Maine Energy Systems’ offerings and employment opportunities, visit www.maineenergysystems.com or call 824-6749.
aravana@bangordailynews.net
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