November 2018

CURRENT LIGHT

P.O. Box 127 Graceville, FL 32440-0127

FLASHES West Florida Electric, Your Touchstone Energy Cooperative

Enviva Celebrates Ten Years Local business leader, Edward Crutchfield (left) & Bill Stanton, Executive Director of the Jackson County Development Council (right)

$7.3 Million tax revenue to Jackson Co. $4.8 Million net revenue to WFEC

1 Billion

WFEC lineman, Terrell Culbreth (inset) and crews from Singing River Electric in Mississippi working to rebuild & restore power to members in the communities of Bascom & Two Egg.

kilowatt hour sales

ISSUE NOVEMBER 2018

Read Online www.WestFlorida.coop

VOL

68, NO 11

CURRENT LIGHT

FLASHES

USPS: 702-990 | ISSN: 1042-7767 | VOL 68, NO 11

Current Light Flashes is the official voice of West Florida Electric Cooperative Association, Inc., a member-owned Touchstone Energy® cooperative serving Calhoun, Holmes, Jackson, and Washington counties. It is published as a service to the Co-op’s members. Periodicals postage is paid at Graceville, Florida.

WFEC Board of Directors

Randy

Joe E.

BUSH

RONE

District 7 / Vice President

District 8 / President

David

John

TATUM

ADAMS

District 1

District 4 / Secretary-Treasurer

John C.

Tim

PATRICK

ALFORD

District 3

District 2

A. C.

George Clayton

District 5

District 6

MILES

OWENS

Enviva Celebrates Ten Years

T

his year, Enviva (formerly Green Circle Bioenergy) celebrates its tenth anniversary of doing business in Jackson County. The company began production near Cottondale in 2008 as part of Green Circle Bioenergy. In January 2015, the plant was acquired by Enviva and is one of seven plants of its kind located strategically throughout the southeastern United States.

Some local visionaries played a significant role in the plant’s location to Jackson County including WFEC’s Executive Vice President & CEO, Russell Dunaway. He, along with former county commissioner, Edward Crutchfield, Bill Stanton, Executive Director of the Jackson County Development Council, and other local officials worked in cooperation to encourage the company to choose Jackson County as its home.

Enviva has had a substantial impact on the economy of Jackson County by contributing at least $7,331,000 in tax revenue to Jackson County over ten years. The company has provided approximately $4.8 million in net revenue to WFEC. The additional revenue from this facility has helped stabilize rates for 28,000 WFEC members. Enviva has purchased over 1 billion kilowatt hour sales over the past ten years – approximately 20 percent of WFEC’s total sales.

The Enviva plant in Jackson County has a production capacity of over 700,000 metric tons of wood pellets per year. These pellets are manufactured from untreated, raw wood, waste wood and residuals. The pellets produced right here in Cottondale carry ENplus quality certification which indicates they are suitable for use by both industrial and residential customers. Once the pellets are produced, they are exported to the Port of Panama City for international consumers.

More than 100 people are employed by Enviva in Cottondale – this includes technicians, engineers and operators. The plant is also planning an expansion to increase its production capacity and workforce.

Three WFEC linemen doing whatever it takes to restore power to our members. Some of our co-op's distribution lines are located in remote places - water is just one of the challenges these men have faced in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael.

WFEC linemen, Josh Smith & Terrell Culbreth paddle a boat out to assist lineman, Kevin Nelson (climbing pole) with repairs.

Frank E.

Myron

BONDURANT

HUDSON

Attorney

District 9

H

urricane Michael came barreling through the Panhandle on October 10, leaving a path of devastation in its wake. West Florida Electric Cooperative’s (WFEC’s) electric distribution system received significant damage caused by very high winds and rain. The cooperative serves approximately 28,000 meters in Calhoun, Holmes, Jackson & Washington Counties. On October 11, all but 189 of those meters were without power.

Crews began working immediately assessing the damage caused by this catastrophic storm, the likes of which no one in the Florida Panhandle has ever seen.

Linemen faced many challenges when trying to restore power to WFEC members including hazards such as trees on roads, trees tangled with poles and power lines and other debris blocking access for crucial equipment.

PowerSouth, the cooperative’s generation and transmission cooperative also experienced damage to its transmission system, which had to be repaired before linemen were able to energize local sections of line.

Another challenge faced by the cooperative included communications equipment failure. When local phone service goes out, so do internal and external communications. This made it impossible for co-op members to call to report power outages.

To date, the cooperative has received help from over 1,000 linemen and right-ofway workers from across the country. This is the most line workers ever used for hurricane restoration by any co-op in the state of Florida. Early estimates are that this rebuild and restoration of WFEC’s electric distribution system will cost $30-$35 million. Restoration efforts continue at the time of publication.

Determined

WFEC lineman, Josh Smith (inset) & just one example of the damage to the distribution system on Five Points Road near the Kynesville community.

Russell

DUNAWAY

Executive VP/CEO

PAGE 2

Hurricane Michael Slams Into WFEC Distribution System

CURRENT LIGHT FLASHES

ISSUE NOVEMBER 2018 TOLL FREE OUTAGE HOTLINE: 1.844.OUTAGE! (1.844.688.2431) PAGE 3

CURRENT LIGHT

FLASHES

USPS: 702-990 | ISSN: 1042-7767 | VOL 68, NO 11

Current Light Flashes is the official voice of West Florida Electric Cooperative Association, Inc., a member-owned Touchstone Energy® cooperative serving Calhoun, Holmes, Jackson, and Washington counties. It is published as a service to the Co-op’s members. Periodicals postage is paid at Graceville, Florida.

WFEC Board of Directors

Randy

Joe E.

BUSH

RONE

District 7 / Vice President

District 8 / President

David

John

TATUM

ADAMS

District 1

District 4 / Secretary-Treasurer

John C.

Tim

PATRICK

ALFORD

District 3

District 2

A. C.

George Clayton

District 5

District 6

MILES

OWENS

Enviva Celebrates Ten Years

T

his year, Enviva (formerly Green Circle Bioenergy) celebrates its tenth anniversary of doing business in Jackson County. The company began production near Cottondale in 2008 as part of Green Circle Bioenergy. In January 2015, the plant was acquired by Enviva and is one of seven plants of its kind located strategically throughout the southeastern United States.

Some local visionaries played a significant role in the plant’s location to Jackson County including WFEC’s Executive Vice President & CEO, Russell Dunaway. He, along with former county commissioner, Edward Crutchfield, Bill Stanton, Executive Director of the Jackson County Development Council, and other local officials worked in cooperation to encourage the company to choose Jackson County as its home.

Enviva has had a substantial impact on the economy of Jackson County by contributing at least $7,331,000 in tax revenue to Jackson County over ten years. The company has provided approximately $4.8 million in net revenue to WFEC. The additional revenue from this facility has helped stabilize rates for 28,000 WFEC members. Enviva has purchased over 1 billion kilowatt hour sales over the past ten years – approximately 20 percent of WFEC’s total sales.

The Enviva plant in Jackson County has a production capacity of over 700,000 metric tons of wood pellets per year. These pellets are manufactured from untreated, raw wood, waste wood and residuals. The pellets produced right here in Cottondale carry ENplus quality certification which indicates they are suitable for use by both industrial and residential customers. Once the pellets are produced, they are exported to the Port of Panama City for international consumers.

More than 100 people are employed by Enviva in Cottondale – this includes technicians, engineers and operators. The plant is also planning an expansion to increase its production capacity and workforce.

Three WFEC linemen doing whatever it takes to restore power to our members. Some of our co-op's distribution lines are located in remote places - water is just one of the challenges these men have faced in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael.

WFEC linemen, Josh Smith & Terrell Culbreth paddle a boat out to assist lineman, Kevin Nelson (climbing pole) with repairs.

Frank E.

Myron

BONDURANT

HUDSON

Attorney

District 9

H

urricane Michael came barreling through the Panhandle on October 10, leaving a path of devastation in its wake. West Florida Electric Cooperative’s (WFEC’s) electric distribution system received significant damage caused by very high winds and rain. The cooperative serves approximately 28,000 meters in Calhoun, Holmes, Jackson & Washington Counties. On October 11, all but 189 of those meters were without power.

Crews began working immediately assessing the damage caused by this catastrophic storm, the likes of which no one in the Florida Panhandle has ever seen.

Linemen faced many challenges when trying to restore power to WFEC members including hazards such as trees on roads, trees tangled with poles and power lines and other debris blocking access for crucial equipment.

PowerSouth, the cooperative’s generation and transmission cooperative also experienced damage to its transmission system, which had to be repaired before linemen were able to energize local sections of line.

Another challenge faced by the cooperative included communications equipment failure. When local phone service goes out, so do internal and external communications. This made it impossible for co-op members to call to report power outages.

To date, the cooperative has received help from over 1,000 linemen and right-ofway workers from across the country. This is the most line workers ever used for hurricane restoration by any co-op in the state of Florida. Early estimates are that this rebuild and restoration of WFEC’s electric distribution system will cost $30-$35 million. Restoration efforts continue at the time of publication.

Determined

WFEC lineman, Josh Smith (inset) & just one example of the damage to the distribution system on Five Points Road near the Kynesville community.

Russell

DUNAWAY

Executive VP/CEO

PAGE 2

Hurricane Michael Slams Into WFEC Distribution System

CURRENT LIGHT FLASHES

ISSUE NOVEMBER 2018 TOLL FREE OUTAGE HOTLINE: 1.844.OUTAGE! (1.844.688.2431) PAGE 3

CURRENT LIGHT

P.O. Box 127 Graceville, FL 32440-0127

FLASHES West Florida Electric, Your Touchstone Energy Cooperative

Enviva Celebrates Ten Years Local business leader, Edward Crutchfield (left) & Bill Stanton, Executive Director of the Jackson County Development Council (right)

$7.3 Million tax revenue to Jackson Co. $4.8 Million net revenue to WFEC

1 Billion

WFEC lineman, Terrell Culbreth (inset) and crews from Singing River Electric in Mississippi working to rebuild & restore power to members in the communities of Bascom & Two Egg.

kilowatt hour sales

ISSUE NOVEMBER 2018

Read Online www.WestFlorida.coop

VOL

68, NO 11