European energy services company Veolia Energy are investing $120 million in a biomass power plant in Fairmont, Minnesota. Called the Fairmont Energy Centre, it would be powered by biomass known as resource-derived fuel (RDF) which is actually processed trash like papers and plastics that have been dried, condensed and shipped into Fairmont. Supplementing this will be secondary wood waste and agricultural waste from crops such as alfalfa and soybeans.

At this stage there has been no indication of what the generating capacity of the facility will be.

Locating the source of the biomass will be undertaken jointly by SMPPA and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Veolia will pick a site for the Fairmont plant in the next few weeks, choosing between demolishing the existing city power plant or a location in an industrial park. Firstly, though an environmental impact study will be carried out which will take approximately two years to complete. However, Veolia do not anticipate any problems meeting the requirements.

It is hoped that the Fairmont Energy Centre will be operating and producing electricity by May 2011.