Enviva Completes Acquisition of South Carolina Wood Pellet Plant
Strategic investment will help Enviva meet growing demand for biomass energy, support manufacturing jobs in rural Southeast
BETHESDA, MD—February 16, 2018—Enviva Holdings, LP (“Enviva” “the Company”), the world’s largest producer of wood pellets, announced today that it, through its previously announced joint venture, Enviva JV Development Company, LLC, has completed the acquisition of a wood pellet production plant in Greenwood, South Carolina and related assets (the “Greenwood plant”) from The Navigator Company, S.A., a Portuguese paper and pulp company. This acquisition is the first investment by the new joint venture, which was recently created by Enviva to acquire, develop and construct wood pellet production plants and deep-water marine terminals in the Southeastern United States.
The Greenwood plant, which is strategically located in a deep natural resource basin, employs nearly 80 full-time employees. Enviva intends to make investments in the Greenwood plant to improve its operational efficiency and add additional emissions control equipment that the Company expects will increase its production capacity to 600,000 metric tons of wood pellets per year by 2019, subject to receiving the necessary permits.
“Enviva is very excited to formally welcome the Greenwood team to the Enviva family,” said Royal Smith, Enviva’s Executive Vice President of Operations. “Together, we look forward to growing this facility in partnership with the Greenwood community and our sustainable supply chain that includes forest landowners, loggers, truckers and the mechanical, and other service providers essential to keeping a world-class manufacturing operation running smoothly.”
“The Greenwood plant is an ideal addition to our portfolio of manufacturing and export terminal facilities, and we are excited to formally welcome this team to the Enviva family,” said John Keppler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Enviva. “This latest investment is a testament to the strength of the global biomass market and will ensure Enviva is well positioned to meet its long-term contracted demand from customers seeking renewable energy alternatives to coal in Europe and Asia.”
In a note sent to Enviva, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said, “I welcome Enviva into the South Carolina family of manufacturers and look forward to growing our mutually beneficial relationship in the years to come. Greenwood has a strong manufacturing base, a wonderful quality of life, and is a great place to do business.”
Enviva’s combined plant operations now include seven manufacturing sites in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida, with an eighth under construction in Richmond County, North Carolina. In total, these facilities will represent more than 4 million metric tons of wood pellet production capacity on an annual basis.
About Enviva Holdings, LP
Enviva Holdings, LP is the world’s largest producer of wood pellets, a renewable and sustainable energy source used to generate electricity and heat. Through its subsidiaries, Enviva Holdings, LP owns and operates wood pellet processing plants and deep-water export terminals in the Southeastern United States. We export our pellets primarily to power plants in the United Kingdom and Europe that previously were fueled by coal, enabling them to reduce their lifetime carbon footprint by about 80 percent. We make our pellets using sustainable practices that protect Southern forests and employ about 680 people and support many other businesses in the rural South, where jobs and economic opportunity are sometimes scarce. Enviva Holdings, LP conducts its activities primarily through two entities: Enviva Partners, LP, a publicly-traded master limited partnership (NYSE: EVA), and Enviva Development Holdings, LLC, a wholly owned private company. To learn more about Enviva Holdings, LP, please visit our website at www.envivabiomass.com and follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/enviva) and Twitter (@EnvivaBiomass).
Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements and information in this press release, including those concerning future results of operations, acquisition opportunities, and distributions, may constitute “forward-looking statements.” The words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “intend,” “foresee,” “should,” “would,” “could,” or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which are generally not historical in nature. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects. Although management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable when made, there can be no assurance that future developments will be those that management anticipates. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections.
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