Lockheed Martin unveils new biomass facility in Owego, NY

Lockheed Martin's first biomass facility companywide is located at its systems integration plant in Owego and uses tons of wood from nearby Wagner Lumber.

Email this story to a friend

Description

By My-Ly Nguyen
mnguyen@gannett.com

OWEGO -- Lockheed Martin's first biomass facility companywide is located at its systems integration plant in Owego and uses tons of wood from nearby Wagner Lumber.

Lockheed unveiled the $5.5 million "green" facility today, the day before Earth Day.

Operating much like a pellet stove in someone's home, but on a much larger scale, the roughly 11,000-square-foot biomass plant uses sawdust, wood chips and bark primarily from Wagner Lumber in Owego, but also Gutchess Lumber in Cortland and other lumber mills, to generate steam used to heat, cool and provide supplemental electricity year-round at the approximately 1.6 million-square-foot Lockheed plant.

At this time of year, Lockheed has one to two tractor-trailers from the lumber mill unload wood residue products daily into a fuel storage bunker at the biomass plant. Each tractor-trailer holds about 28 tons of wood, Lockheed said.

In the winter, Lockheed receives three to four drop-offs a day. The company pays the lumber mill about $1,000 per truckload, said Nick Scalzo, manager of the biomass project at Lockheed.

The $5.5 million project's total payback is expected in just more than four years, Lockheed said. The project already has reduced the company's heating and cooling bills by half. The company couldn't immediately calculate exact cost savings because of fluctuating prices for heating oil and natural gas.

"We were very fortunate to have Wagner Lumber down the road," he said. "You have to have a wood source to do this."

The biomass system, which includes two, 600-horsepower boilers, is fully automated.

Since the biomass plant began fully operating in September, Lockheed has reduced its carbon footprint by 8,000 metric tons, or one-quarter of the Owego site's total emissions, the company said. A carbon footprint measures the amount of carbon dioxide emitted through fossil fuel combustion.

"We're one of the only industrial sites around that has this," Scalzo said. "We have eliminated the need for oil and gas."

Others using similar technology include Binghamton University, Colgate University and some power plants, he said. Lockheed still keeps its old system, which uses natural gas and No. 6 fuel oil, onsite to serve as backup.

The energy produced during Lockheed's biomass process is considered carbon neutral by the Environmental Protection Agency because the fuel is a renewable resource.

Residual ash created by the process is minimal and is used to cover material at a local landfill.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is giving Lockheed $250,000 to cover some development costs for the biomass facility. The company said it has received most of the money, which was provided as Lockheed completed certain phases of the project.

Click here to view News Channel 34 video

Additional Information

Web Site: http://www.newschannel34.com/news/local/story/Looking-in-at-the-Lockheed-Biomass-Facility/fJDfKMIFXkmFQXPxdb8LoQ.cspx?rss=120

Category: Forestry>Biomass Energy

Region: New York

Ad Running: 4/22/2009-5/22/2011

Ad Posted: 4/22/2009 1:19:54 PM

Ad Viewed: 1518 times

Create your
Buy & Sell Ad