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Experts say hundreds of jobs will come to the bayou region after last week’s announcement that Virdia Inc. will make a $600 million capital investment to build biochemical processing facilities in Raceland
The facility, which will be installed near the Raceland Sugar Corp. mill, will convert sugar cane waste, also known as bagasse, into high-value industrial sugars and biofuels.
Officials say Verdia, a U.S.-based biotechnology company which is wholly-owned by Finland-based Stora Enso, will use 80,000 tons per year of the mill’s bagasse.
Louisiana Economic Development estimates that the project will create 81 new jobs, averaging $55,000 per year, and 469 indirect jobs for a total of 550 jobs in the bayou region and surrounding areas. Louisiana Economic Development also estimates that 120 construction jobs will be generated as well.
“Virdia represents the success that Louisiana’s agriculture industry is experiencing as our economy continues to grow,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a release. “Virdia is creating quality new jobs by developing new methods for making sugar cane products that will continue to help support our farmers.”
The company will begin hiring in 2015 with expected completion of the $60 million project in Raceland by the end of 2016.
Verdia Managing Director Otavio Pontes said in a release that the company chose Louisiana because of the accessibility of a nonfood-competing, sustainable raw material in sugar cane bagasse.
“[That] will enable us to validate the technology and develop further the applications and possibilities offered by this technology,” Pontes said in a release. “In addition, the support that Raceland Raw Sugar and the Louisiana Economic Development agency is giving in making available a site that offers necessary other resources and infrastructure was also a significant factor. This investment in Louisiana is the logical next step for the industrial validation of the newly acquired extraction and separation technology.”
This agreement represents the first major co-location of an industrial processing facility with a Louisiana sugar mill. The state of Louisiana secured the project by offering Virdia an incentive package that includes a performance-based $1 million Economic Development Award Program grant to offset infrastructure costs. The company also is expected to utilize the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program.
“We’re proud that Virdia recognized the tremendous value of Louisiana’s sugar cane resources and that the company will be advancing important new manufacturing methods for its products right here in our state,” Jindal said in a release. “This project will be a boon for our farmers and refiners in the sugar industry, and it also will create great jobs for our families in Louisiana – where today we have more people working than ever before.”
Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph stated in a released statement that she is very pleased to welcome the company to the parish.
“How exciting that this company with global investment has chosen Lafourche Parish as the site to manufacture their products,” Randolph said. “The familiar sight of the ‘Raceland Mountains’ will disappear because these innovative people have determined that sugar cane waste can be transformed into useful products in the biochemical industry.”
Additionally, Stora Enso has announced a $43 million investment in the construction of a demonstration and market development plant in Raceland. The plant, which is scheduled to begin productions in early 2017, will be used for industrial validation of the newly-acquired extraction and separation technology developed by Virdia.
“Years from now, we will look back upon our renewable fuels movement, just as we did in the last century with the industrial revolution,” said South Louisiana Economic Council President and CEO Vic Lafont. “With all our natural resources, the Bayou Region is well-positioned to be at the center of this revolution.”
The Raceland Sugar Corp. mill will provide 80,000 tons of bagasse, or waste, per year to Virdia’s biochemical processing facilities, which will be built nearby and completed by the end of 2016.
