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October 18 2023
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Vol. XXV • No. 21
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Cowin Moves Into Its New Facility in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The entrance receives a fresh look, and a reconfigured parts and rental counter greets customers as they visit the rebuilt Cowin Tuscaloosa branch.
In July 2017, Cowin Equipment Company opened the doors on its new location in the Tuscaloosa, Ala., market. The branch was thriving and truly was “hitting a its stride” when a devastating electrical fire broke out just four years after opening. The electrical fire started in the office area and spread throughout the ductwork and destroyed the entire facility. The Cowin staff immediately put in a portable trailer on the equipment yard adjacent to the burned facility to serve as parts and sales offices and rented an available shop nearby for service work. Staffers all pitched in to move anything that was salvageable to storage while some of the service work that needed immediate attention was completed outdoors with the technicians braving the elements. After the fire, the structure was completely gutted and stripped down to a steel skeleton, and the interior was redesigned with extensions to the building incorporated into the design. In the rebuild, the entrance area was completely reconfigured to include extra room for the rental department and parts and service desk, and a bit of room for a showroom and some front-line product racking area, as well as more accessible sales offices. see COWIN page 2
Wet weather impacts have been significantly less during this summer, as compared with the previous two.
By Cindy Riley CEG CORRESPONDENT
Enviva Inc., a leading producer of sustainably sourced woody biomass, has selected the remote town of Epes, Ala., for its largest wood pellet production plant to date. “We don’t even have a caution light, that’s how rural we are,” said Epes Mayor Walter Porter. “Our population is about 400. There isn’t a retail store here, so this new plant brings real opportunity.” The project was announced almost four years ago. Enviva acquired more than 300 acres in the Epes Industrial Park, located next to the Tombigbee River in Sumter County. “We began construction last year in what will be a 1.1 million metric tons per year nameplate capacity plant,” said Mark Coscio, Enviva chief development officer and executive vice president. “We believe this plant will increase our production capacity by approximately 18 percent. “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.” The company chose to repurpose a former business site
and construct a new manufacturing facility to jumpstart economic growth and bring employment opportunities back to Sumter County. Once operational, the Epes plant is expected to support approximately 100 direct jobs and 250 indirect jobs, including through adjacent industries, such as logging, trucking and shipping. “Our wood biomass provides a sustainable substitute to fossil fuels for power and heat generation and is part of an all-in renewable energy strategy aimed at reducing carbon emissions on a lifecycle basis and limiting global dependence on fossil fuels,” said Coscio. “The key driver of demand is the global energy transition mega trend; that is, the transition away from an economy that has been primarily powered by fossil fuels to one based on renewables and clean energy alternatives. What we’re seeing around the world, including here in the U.S., is a global effort to change the outcomes of the way energy is sourced and produced.” Gov. Kay Ivey and Rep. Terri Sewell were among those turning out for the official groundbreaking for the new plant, which is expected to be in service by mid-2024, with production fully ramped by 2025. see ENVIVA page 6