Nature’s Fuel Considers $470M Facility in Northern Kentucky

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Nature’s Fuel Gallatin L.L.C. will build a $470 million biomass facility in Northern Kentucky. The Indiana-based company received preliminary approval for as much as $35 million in tax incentives from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority. The facility will be located in Gallatin County, near Warsaw, and will make bio fuels.

Located about 65 miles northeast of Louisville, the facility will be built on 115 acres, according to documents subimtted to the KEDEFA board. It will provide jobs for about 280 people, with an avarage hourly wage of $20.47. The project meets conditions outlined in the state statute.

The biomass facility will occupy only about 30 to 40 acres of the property and will be used to convert wood waste, construction waste, industrial waste, municipal solid waste and manure into renewable bio-crude oil. Because of all the odors, the rest of the property will be used as a buffer. The plant is expected to produce 77.5 million gallons of bio-oil once it is fully operational.

Nature’s Fuel applied under the state’s Incentives for Energy Independence Act, which provides tax incentives for as long as 25 years for eligible projects. Had the incentives not been available, the facility would have been built elsewhere.

Based in Fort Wayne, Ind., Nature’s Fuel was founded in 2005. The company is focused on converting multiple forms of waste or biomass materials to clean, renewable energy while improving the environment and providing a return to shareholders. In 2006, it built a fuel facility in Atwood, which went into full production in 2009 and could produce more than 14,000 gallons of bio-oil every 24 hours. Nature’s Fuel decided to relocate the facility to Michigan due to its close proximity to a residential neighborhood. Earlier this year, the company started construction on a facility meant to process municipal solid waste in Huntington, Ind.