A wood pellet plant billed as the largest of its kind in the world is now close to full operation in Lucedale, capping a construction effort that drew money from county, state and federal governments and tied George County’s timber economy to overseas power markets.
The facility is owned by Enviva Biomass, a Maryland-based producer of industrial wood pellets. The company said it has hired 90 full-time employees to run the Lucedale operation.
Enviva put the construction cost at $140 million and said the project supported roughly 400 cumulative jobs after breaking ground in October 2019. The company projects an annual regional economic impact of $250 million.
A long list of public partners
A ribbon-cutting ceremony drew dozens of local and state elected officials to the site. George County Board of Supervisors President Frankie Massey credited a chain of utility and legislative partnerships for making the plant possible.
“The county worked closely with our utility partners — electric, water, and natural gas — to provide the resources for this plant to operate. We worked with our state and federal legislative partners to help funded these vital expansions,” Massey said. “Our partnership with Enviva has brought this state-of-art facility to our Industrial Park providing new jobs, enhancing our infrastructure, and improving our property tax base.”
George County supervisors approved a 10-year tax abatement worth roughly $13 million to attract the construction. The Mississippi Development Authority put in $4 million so the county could upgrade wastewater service and other industrial park infrastructure.
About $1.7 million in state legislative appropriations and grants, plus roughly $50,000 from the county, paid to extend the Mississippi Export Railroad line behind the plant, giving pellets a rail route to the Port of Pascagoula. The U.S. Economic Development Administration contributed another $1.4 million to widen Highway 198 for the roughly 200 log trucks expected to deliver timber daily.
The county had also secured a $1.3 million rural development loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture back in 2013 for land and infrastructure work intended to land a pellet plant in the park. In Jackson County, a separate $60 million investment built a deep-water marine terminal and storage domes at the Port of Pascagoula.
Timber, trucks and downstream jobs
Enviva estimates the Lucedale plant will support more than 200 indirect jobs in the region through logging, trucking and other adjacent industries.
Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson said the operation creates demand for timber that would otherwise have little value.
“By utilizing low-value wood, Enviva has created a new market that, in turn, provides landowners and loggers with additional income while also incentivizing forest growth,” Gipson said. “We are so proud that Mississippi wood is being used in Enviva’s pellets to power homes and industry all over the world.”
Most of the softwood timber and paper mill residuals feeding the plant come from within about 75 miles. The state agriculture department says timber covers 65% of Mississippi land and ranks as the state’s third-largest commodity, supported by roughly 1,000 logging companies.
Pellets bound for Asia and Europe
The bulk of what Lucedale produces is destined for power plants in Asia and Europe, where utilities burn pellets as a substitute for coal. The plant’s current capacity is 750,000 metric tons per year, with plans to push toward 1 million next year.
Across 10 plants in the Southeast, Enviva produces about 6.2 million metric tons of pellets annually and describes itself as the world’s largest producer of industrial-grade wood pellets. The company has said it intends to roughly double capacity to 13 million metric tons over five years.
Expansion is already underway nearby. Enviva announced plans in April for a fourth Mississippi plant in neighboring Stone County, and another facility is under construction in Sumter County, Alabama. At 1.1 million metric tons per year, the Sumter County plant would take the world’s-largest title once it comes online.