The Elk River Resource Recovery Project may be closing.

 

Tuesday, plant manager Matt Herman told the Sherburne County Board the project has been losing money and is no longer sustainable.

 

“We’re here today to inform the commissioners that in 2017 Great River Energy (GRE) lost just over $11 million operating the facility,” he said. “Over the last several years the project has consistently lost money.”

 

Herman said the board of directors and senior staff are meeting in July to determine the long-term future of the project. He said at that time they could decide on a closure date.

 

The resource recovery project consists of the recovery station, the power plant and the Becker Ash Landfill. The facility turns municipal solid waste into reuse-derived fuel to run the power plant.

 

It uses solid waste generated in Sherburne, Anoka and Hennepin counties.

 

The facility can process up to 320,000 of tons each year, converting it into electricity that can power up to 25,000 homes. It can also remove about 11,000 tons of steel and 1,500 tons of aluminum to be recycled.

 

Herman said GRE is a non-profit co-op that provides generation and transmission services for 28 member cooperatives. 

 

“When we continue to operate at a loss, they’re paying more money for their electricity than they should,” he said.

 

Herman said although the facility can process 320,000 tons, over the past two years, they have processed about 260,000 tons.

 

“We’re not getting the tons we need, not creating enough revenue and keeping power costs high,” he said. “That, combined with low prices in the wholesale energy market have made it consistently uneconomic to operate the project, even if it were operating at full capacity today.”

 

He said back in 2014-15, they set up a model that would generate $55-$60 power, which was about average in the market at the time. But with low natural gas prices, solar and wind energy options, the price is closer to $20.

 

“The benchmark has changed,” he said.

 

Herman said they were informing all the stakeholders about the situation in hopes there may be a solution to the problem.

 

“GRE is asking the city, county and state policy makers to help us keep this project going by finding ways to subsidize haulers, subsidize tipping fees and exploring county and private ownership options,” he said.

 

He said there will be a major impact if the facility closes. There are currently 86 people working on the project. The facility pays over $325,000 in taxes to the county and over $500,000 to Elk River. But there is an even bigger environmental impact to the local community and to the Twin Cities Metro area, he said.

 

“If were to close,we also have a landfill siting crisis. We’ll eventually need more capacity,” he said. “Putting 320,000 tons into a landfill wil cost a lot of resources.”

 

Commissioner Felix Schmiesing said the county would do what it could, but it was a bigger issue than that.

 

“If there’s a solution we can be a part of, I would certainly want to hear about that. I would not be looking at a subsidy or to subsidize haulers. But we would listen to anything that made sense because we want to keep you here,” he said. 

 

 “But we’re less than 10% of your solution. I want us to be there and have the discussion, but I don’t think this is a problem Sherburne County can solve for you. I think the Metro counties have to think about what it means.”

 

Herman said they would keep the county informed about the issue.