A groundbreaking ceremony in Camden this morning officially welcomed a new company to the Ouachita County town.

The event was held at the Port of Camden, where a $100 million Phoenix Renewable Energy project is getting underway.

According to the Team Camden website, Phoenix Renewable Energy is the third tenant to commit to Camden's Energy and Renewable Resources Park located on the former site of the International Paper plant in Camden.

The Phoenix project involves three different facilities:

A 20.3 MW Biomass Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Plant which will produce excess electricity for the grid, steam for its second facility, and excess steam available for a another renewable energy company.

A Wood Pellet Mill Plant producing 180,000 tons of pellets annually to be shipped from the Port of Camden at which the project will spur approximately $4.7 million of improvements necessary to accept deliveries of 500,000 tons of wood pellets annually and two barge shipments daily.

A Wood Processing Yard with two cranes, a debarker, chipper and conveyors to the power plant and pellet mill.

U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln today championed the groundbreaking of Phoenix Renewable Energy’s Camden facility.

“Arkansas, with our natural resources, has a great opportunity to play a significant role in our nation’s transition to a new energy economy,” Lincoln said.  “I am a big believer in the use of renewable energy from biomass, and Phoenix Renewable Energy is poised to help make our state a leader in renewable energy production. The use of biomass electricity has a positive impact of reducing fossil fuel consumption and should be encouraged. This energy source will not only help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but also will create new green jobs in our state.”

Lincoln, a member of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has been a long-time advocate of renewable energy.

“As an agricultural state, Arkansas is in a position to utilize tremendous renewable energy resources and be a leader as our nation strives for greater energy independence,” Lincoln said. “Alternative energy sources, such as biomass and biofuels, offer job creation opportunities for new and expanding small businesses in our state. I will continue to push for incentives that will help build a strong alternative energy industry in Arkansas.”

Earlier this year, as part of her Arkansas Plan tax initiatives, Lincoln introduced legislation to even the playing field for all renewable energy production, including biomass.

To encourage the production and use of renewable energy, the federal tax code includes an income tax credit for the production of electricity produced from renewable energy resources. Energy resources that qualify for the credit include wind, biomass, geothermal, solar, municipal solid waste, and hydro energy production, among others. Under current law, some energy resources receive a higher-level credit than others. As a result, certain new renewable energy technologies have a more difficult time finding the necessary investment capital. This is particularly problematic for the pursuit of renewable energy opportunities in Arkansas, where biomass is a predominant renewable resource, but only gets half the tax credit that many other resources receive. Lincoln’s bill would provide parity in the value of the credit for all renewable energy resources by increasing the value of the credit to full credit level for those resources that currently receive only a partial credit.

Lincoln’s plan would also allow electricity from biomass used on-site to qualify for the Section 45 Renewable Electricity Production Tax Credit. Under current law, self-generated biomass electricity does not qualify for the credit.