Saturday 10 January 2015

RWE scraps plan to sell Georgia Biomass - From Argus

RWE scraps plan to sell Georgia Biomass
07 Jan 2015 15:01 GMT

London, 7 January (Argus) — German utility RWE has decided not to continue with the sale of US wood-pellet subsidiary Georgia Biomass, which operates the US' largest pellet manufacturing plant.

The commercial terms offered for the plant did not meet expectations, RWE said. The company will now "examine the next steps and possible options for Georgia Biomass", RWE said, but declined to comment further on those options at this stage.

RWE Innogy launched the sale of Georgia Biomass in May as part of its shift in strategy to focus less on the biomass business and more on wind and solar power generation.

At the time of the announcement, other European utilities, as well as private-equity groups looking at opportunities in the wood-based renewables business showed interest in the sale.

Meanwhile, RWE has a contract-for-differences subsidy agreement from the UK government for the coal-to-biomass conversion of its 320MW Lynemouth power plant, which is still awaiting EU state aid clearance.