Enviva Inc. breaks ground on its forthcoming Epes plant under construction in Sumter County, Alabama.
Enviva has been active in Sumter County since its initial assessment of the site in 2018. In 2020, Enviva acquired over 300 acres in the Epes Industrial Park, located next to the Tombigbee River in Sumter County, to build its largest wood pellet production plant. In July 2022, the company began construction of its fully contracted Epes plant, which will have a nameplate capacity of 1.1 million metric tons per year and is expected to be in service by mid-2024, with production fully ramped by 2025.
When assessing and developing the project, Enviva chose to repurpose a former business site and construct a brand-new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to jumpstart economic growth and bring employment opportunities back to the community it now calls home. Once operational, the Epes plant is expected to support approximately 100 direct jobs and 250 indirect jobs, including in adjacent industries such as logging, trucking, and shipping. Enviva plans to invest, on average, $375 million for each newly constructed plant going forward, including the Epes plant.
The rich fiber basket and supply in Alabama, along with favorable transport logistics and a great local workforce, are some of the key factors which initially made the project sustainable and attractive for Enviva. As part of its unwavering commitment to sustainability, Enviva will source fiber at the new plant by following the robust set of practices and principles that are employed successfully at Enviva’s other plants. The facility will sustainably and responsibly source wood from areas within approximately 75 miles of the plant.
Pellets produced at the Epes plant will be exported to international markets, mainly in Europe and Asia, and will help to fill international demand for secure sources of renewable energy, which help to defossilize power and heat generation, as well as energy-intensive industries such as steel, cement, and lime, as well as sustainable aviation fuels.
Enviva Inc. is the world’s largest producer of industrial wood pellets, a renewable and sustainable energy source produced by aggregating a natural resource, wood fiber, and processing it into a transportable form, wood pellets.
