Biomass/Power Expertise Assists Joint Venture

Laurentian Energy Authority is a joint venture between two local utilities; Hibbing Public Utilities in Hibbing, Minnesota, and Virginia Public Utilities in Virginia, Minnesota. Harris Group has performed as both Owner's Engineer and Design Engineer for the addition of biomass fueled steam generation units at the existing power generation and district heating plants in both Hibbing and Virginia.

Each stoker type boiler will generate approximately 135,000#/hr of steam that will be used to generage power to satisfy a 35MW power purchase agreement. Biomass fuels, including fast growing trees specifically grown to provide fuel, will be used to fire the new boilers.

As Owner's Engineer, Harris Group performed plant definition and heat balance tasks, assisted in environmental permitting, sized the biomass boilers, and initiated long lead equipment procurement tasks.

As Design Engineer, Harris Group has managed other major sub-contractors, produced detailed engineering and design for the boiler installation and interface with existing facilities, developed construction bid packages, and is involved in construction support activities.

Harris Group Inc. provides multi-discipline engineering to five market sectors: energy, ethanol & biomass, forest industries, industrial manufacturing, and microelectronics. Its specialty services include financial consulting, process development and systems integration. Harris Group has nine offices in the U.S. and a sister company, AO Harris Group International, in St. Petersburg, Russia. For more information, call 1-800-488-7410 or visit www.harrisgroup.com.