A demonstration project wood-pellet mill is scheduled to be built on Gravina Island, across the Tongass Narrows from Ketchikan, in mid to late 2023 by the region’s economic development organization, the Southeast Conference.
The nonprofit organization, which holds $1.8 million in grant funding from various sources for the project, is in the planning process toward constructing the mill. More than half the money is from a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant.
Southeast Conference will own and operate the mill. However, it may partner with a private organization in the future to help run the facility, according to Executive Director Robert Venables.
Pellets mostly will be made out of forest waste products, but it will “experiment” with other biomass products such as cardboard, Venables said.
The demonstration plant would have a capacity to manufacture about 200 tons of pellets per year, he said. The 200 tons could replace about 22,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year, according to a 2016 Forest Service report.
If it is successful, the intent, depending on funding, would be to expand the program with pellet supplies or small operations elsewhere in Southeast.
Various facilities, such as the Ketchikan airport, use pellets for heating, while hardware stores sell them. The idea behind opening a mill in Southeast is that pellets will not have to be imported into town but can be produced locally, according to Venables.
Ketchikan was the ideal location for the demonstration project, he said. Ketchikan has lower energy costs, is close to feedstock from forest waste, and offers “the opportunities to perhaps take a look at some other feedstock streams like pallets and cardboard,” Venables said.
“This is a demonstration project that we hope will be the first of many in the state that can be community-sized to local demand needs,” he said.
“You can’t do a demonstration project in a community that is off the beaten path, has high cost of energy, and doesn’t have that demand for the product yet (which is another reason why Ketchikan was an ideal location),” Venables said.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough has approved a lease on a 93,240-square-foot parcel for the mill.
Southeast Conference officials are working on updating cost figures, and are in discussion with a manufacturer about equipment that will be installed at the mill.
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