A Penobscot County decide has cleared the sale of a shuttered Hampden trash plant to a bunch of Maine cities and cities, marking an necessary step towards reopening the power that’s sat dormant for greater than two years.
Penobscot County Superior Court docket Justice William Anderson this week permitted the sale of the power to the Municipal Overview Committee, the group that represents the 115 Maine cities and cities that used the plant within the six months it ran. The sale is about to be finalized subsequent week.
The Municipal Overview Committee reached an settlement with the financiers of the power earlier this yr to launch a brand new bidding course of. If no certified bidders stepped ahead, the financiers who funded the power’s development must settle for the Municipal Overview Committee’s so-called stalking horse bid, which got here in at only a fraction of the general price of constructing the power.
Known as Coastal Assets of Maine, the plant has remained dormant since Might 2020, when it shut down after it ran out of funds.
As a part of a remaining plan to promote the power by the top of June, the financers — largely a group of out-of-state funding funds — agreed to permit the Municipal Overview Committee to position a last-resort provide price simply over $1 million. That provide is a fraction of the $52 million the bondholders paid towards the power’s development.
In line with the Municipal Overview Committee’s most up-to-date monetary report, it has already positioned a $150,000 down cost on the power.
The group mentioned Friday that, after the sale is finalized, it should work with its new companion, Revere Capital Advisors, to finalize agreements to restart the power.
Underneath the settlement with Revere, the corporate and its associates will present the cash wanted to restart and function the power. The MRC estimates it’ll price about $20 million alone to get the power again up and operating.
Revere may even be the bulk proprietor of Municipal Waste Options, the brand new firm the Municipal Overview Committee fashioned to buy and personal the power.
Throughout the latest assembly of the Municipal Overview Committee’s board of administrators final week, representatives from Revere Capital mentioned they’ll work intently with an organization referred to as CS Options, which can play a lead position within the facility’s restart. The corporate has deep ties to an funding group that didn’t revive the 2 paper mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket.
