Some clouds. Low 62F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Some clouds. Low 62F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

GREENWOOD TOWNSHIP — A drop in the wholesale price for electricity means a planned $360 million plant to generate electricity from waste tires now is "economically unfeasible," according to Crawford Renewable Energy LLC, the company that was building the plant.

Crawford Renewable Energy now plans to partner with another high-tech firm to build a non-combustion plant to produce carbon black, low-sulphur diesel fuel and other products from tires, according to Greg Rubino, project manager for Crawford Renewable Energy. The company hopes to begin construction of the new plant sometime in 2017 and production of those products in 2018, Rubino said.

"When we started, the cost of electricity was almost twice as expensive as it is now," Rubino told the Tribune Wednesday. "With more natural gas available in the last few years to generate electricity, it's driven down energy prices. Who would have thought we'd have seen gasoline back down at $1.79 a gallon?"

Rubino declined to comment on the amount of money Crawford Renewable Energy had spent on the tires-to-energy plant to date.

In 2011, Crawford Renewable Energy first announced it would build a 90-megawatt power plant in the Keystone Regional Industrial Park in Greenwood Township when it purchase an 80-acre site in the industrial park from HON Industries. HON Industries, an Iowa-based maker of office furniture, had plans to build a plant on the site, but it never was built.

Crawford Renewable Energy received necessary permits to build and operate the power plant, including an air quality plan approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources. Some Crawford County property owners appealed the air quality plan because of concerns about emissions. In August 2013, the appeal was resolved in Crawford Renewable Energy's favor.

Now, due to falling energy prices, Rubino said Crawford Renewable Energy has formally informed DEP it is withdrawing its plan approval for the project "due to circumstances beyond its control."

"During the period from 2011 through the present, due to the abundance of new sources of natural gas that became available for electric energy generation, wholesale electric prices dropped precipitously, which resulted in the project becoming economically unfeasible," Rubino said.

Crawford Renewable Energy has entered into a strategic partnership with a high-tech company which owns multiple patents in the field of pyrolysis, which is the thermochemical breakdown of organic materials. Rubino declined to name the other company involved.

The plant will use tire-derived fuel to produce carbon black, low-sulphur diesel fuel and other products, Rubino said. Carbon black is used to make photocopier toner while low-sulphur diesel fuel is required by the federal government for trucks and other heavy vehicles to reduce exhaust emissions. 

Additional information about the project will be released as it becomes available, Rubino said. Engineering for the proposed plant has not been completed as yet, he said.

Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.

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