Date: June 24, 2011
Source: Ze-gen
Waste-to-energy company Ze-gen (Boston, MA) announced that it is suspending its $15 million clean energy project planned for Attleboro, MA owing to falling natural gas prices and a "more prolonged local regulatory review process than anticipated." Chief Operating Officer David Robertson said he was suspending the Attleboro Clean Energy Project in favor of developing projects in locations with stronger energy markets and where the community is more receptive to alternative energy technology. "As a young technology company, our most precious resource is the time and creative attention of our small professional team. If the Attleboro Clean Energy Project was already up and running, we could withstand the economic drop in natural gas prices," he said. In the meantime, Ze-gen will continue to operate its New Bedford research and development site. Ze-gen's technology employs a liquid metal gasifier to convert solid wastes into synthesis gas (syngas) and a residual inert slag material. The syngas is burned to create clean energy.
PRESS RELEASE
June 24, 2011
Ze-gen Suspends Attleboro Clean Energy Project Development
David Robertson, Chief Operating Officer of Ze-gen, Inc., announced today that the alternative energy company will suspend development of the Attleboro Clean Energy Project in order to allocate resources to developing projects in locations with stronger energy markets and a community more receptive to the development of alternative energy technology. Citing the combination of dramatically falling natural gas prices in the region and a more prolonged local regulatory review process than anticipated, Robertson said they would look to build their first clean energy commercial plant at a different location.
"As noted by the U.S. Energy Information Agency, U.S. electricity and natural gas prices have dropped substantially since we constructed our New Bedford pilot facility. This downward trend appears to be holding for the foreseeable future due to new technology opening large deposits of shale gas throughout the Northeast and Midwest. Although this is good news for us as consumers, it presents a challenge for the emerging alternative energy markets."
Robertson also cited the length of the local regulatory approval process as a part of the company's decision to locate elsewhere.
"As a young technology company, our most precious resource is the time and creative attention of our small professional team. If the Attleboro Clean Energy Project was already up and running, we could withstand the economic drop in natural gas prices, but the combination of economic pressures and the recent delays to the project schedule has led us to conclude there are better locations for our first commercial facility outside of the Northeast corridor."
Robertson said the company still believes Attleboro is an otherwise ideal location for the growth of green jobs and green energy technology but that at this point in their company's development, Ze-gen believes their prospects of success are better in areas where there is a stronger alternative energy market.
Robertson expressed Ze-gen's appreciation to the residents, organizations and individuals who supported them and encouraged them to locate at the Attleboro Corporate Campus. Ze-gen's CEO, Walter Howard submitted an "Open Letter to the Residents of Attleboro" which will run in The Sun Chronicle later this week to explain the company's move directly to the people of the City.
For more information, contact:
Gideon Gradman
617-674-2443
ggradman@ze-gen.com.
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