Deschutes County has granted a fourth extension to an energy company hoping to build a 25-megawatt biomass plant in La Pine, potentially generating enough electricity to power 10,000 to 25,000 homes.

For more than five years, St. Helens-based Biogreen Sustainable Energy Co. has looked at land in the La Pine Industrial Park east of U.S. Highway 97 as a location for its $75 million biomass project, taking advantage of the region’s vast forestlands to harvest scrap wood and convert it to electricity.

But the economic downturn, labor issues and an uncertain energy market have pushed the project further and further back.

Many of the project’s long-standing land and building permits were set to expire soon, according to planning documents. But Deschutes County commissioners on Wednesday granted the company a two-month extension.

What’s next

The short window should give the company a chance to meet with La Pine officials and discuss just where the project stands, Deschutes County Administrator Tom Anderson said Friday.

La Pine City Manager Rick Allen said those discussions could take place within weeks.

“We need to sit down and talk about where they’re at” with the plan, Allen said. None of the current La Pine city councilors was on the council when the city first approved the contract, he added, so they need to be brought up to speed.

Reached by phone Friday, Biogreen President Rob Broberg said the project is definitely alive but “still a couple of years out, conservatively.”

Biogreen seemed set to start construction in 2011. But Broberg said the market for biomass unexpectedly cooled that year, as solar and wind power costs dipped below biomass. The price changes, and lower-than-expected demand for power in California, delayed the project, he said.

The goal all along has been to connect the La Pine biomass plant with transmission lines east of the city, where the electricity could be delivered to a larger grid and sold in California.

Broberg said the market has improved slightly, but not to the point where construction would be imminent.

Meanwhile, Allen said a 2011 complaint arguing Biogreen wants to avoid using union workers to build the plant still hasn’t been resolved, further clouding the project’s future.

— Reporter: 541-617-7820, eglucklich@bendbulletin.com