Greentech Lead America: Verso Paper, a North American producer of coated papers, announced the company, as part of its sustainability initiatives, has completed and commercialized a $42 million renewable energy project at its Bucksport Mill in Maine.
The renewable energy project includes an upgraded biomass delivery system, upgraded combination boiler and new 25 megawatt turbine generator. The boiler, previously fed by a combination of fuels, now runs solely on renewable biomass save for a small amount of natural gas used to ignite the boiler at startup.
Sixty five percent of total on-site energy generated by Verso in 2012 came from renewable, greenhouse gas-neutral biomass.
Also 69 percent of the wood fiber Verso used was third-party certified to a credible forest management certification standard and all three Verso mills maintained compliance with the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (BV-PEFCCOC-US005202-1) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC License Code FSC-C019085) chain-of-custody standards.
The company also launched Verso Forest Certification Grant Program, an initiative aimed at increasing certified fiber and certified acreage on lands near its three paper mills. The program provides start-up funding to encourage and assist landowners, consulting foresters and other stakeholders in developing innovative new projects that will help expand and maintain certification in Verso’s wood procurement zones.
Each of Verso’s three mills maintained certification to the ISO 14001:2004 environmental management system standard. Verso had a perfect environmental compliance record in 2012 with no environmental compliance notices from regulatory agencies. The company’s combined employee and company United Way contributions totaled more than $360,000, a 21 percent increase over 2011.