BlueRock Energy and ReEnergy Black River LLC have entered into a services agreement to support ReEnergy's delivery of power from its 60 MW ReEnergy Black River bioenergy facility to the Fort Drum U.S. Army installation near Watertown, New York.
Under the agreement, BlueRock Energy is performing load forecasting, scheduling and delivery services from the plant to Fort Drum and other wholesale support services designed to provide ReEnergy timely and accurate power delivery services under ReEnergy's agreement with Fort Drum.
The Defense Logistics Agency recently awarded a 20-year contract to ReEnergy Black River, which is located inside the fence at Fort Drum, to provide secure, renewable electricity to the installation. The contract is the largest renewable energy project in the history of the U.S. Army. The facility began supplying 100% of Fort Drum's electrical load as of November 1. Fort Drum's electricity needs currently peak at about 28 MW. A transmission line will be built to directly connect the plant to Fort Drum's substations.
The facility, previously fired primarily by coal, was idled in early 2010 by its former owner. ReEnergy acquired the facility in December 2011 and invested more than USD$34 million to convert it to biomass. The converted facility began operations in May 2013. ReEnergy Black River submitted a proposal to the Defense Logistics Agency as part of a competitive procurement process in Spring 2013.