Northeast Biodiesel Co-op Underway

The facility has been caught in limbo in the last couple of years due to the financial crisis. The collapse of large financial institutions sent the economy into a deep recession, causing banks to pull back and tighten their credit underwriting. Northeast Biodiesel originally sought loan capital from banks to complete the financing package needed for a five million gallon processor. Though area banks proved unwilling to make the start-up loans, the development of smaller processors at lower cost allowed the project to move forward with the capital invested by Co-op Power members and local investors.

Five years ago, the smallest manufacturing unit built to produce biodiesel fuel was a five million gallon per year processor. Today, processors are being built at lower cost and smaller volume. Northeast Biodiesel will begin fuel production with a single 1.75 million gallon per year processing unit, and plans to add a second unit to produce 3.5 million gallons per year in 2012.

Co-op Power owns the majority of shares in Northeast Biodiesel, which is an independent limited liability corporation. Co-op Power is a member-owned cooperative founded in 2005 to create community-owned renewable energy resources across the Northeast. Co-op Power invested $135,000 of its member equity in Northeast Biodiesel, which leveraged $1 million from 24 investors.