Roof project under way at Orrington PERC plant

ORRINGTON – The Penobscot Energy Recovery Corp. plant in Orrington is in the midst of a $2 million repair program that will result in the replacement of sections of the facility’s roof.

Though he declined to discuss the project budget, Plant Manager Peter Prata said that Cianbro Corp. is contractor for the project, which began last week and should be wrapped up by late May.

According to Prata, the project will result in a new roof over the plant’s tipping floor and the replacement of half of the roof over the processing area.

The plant’s metal roofing was damaged by moisture that accumulates inside the facility. The new sections will be made of fiberglass, he said.

The Orrington waste-to-energy facility is owned by a partnership consisting of Energy National Inc. and Secure Environmental Technologies PERC Investment LLC, both of which have headquarters in Minnesota, and the Maine Municipal Review Committee, which represents 158 Maine member municipalities spread out from Mars Hill to Wiscasset and from Baileyville to Winthrop, according to MRC executive director Greg Lounder.

The towns collectively have been among PERC’s limited partnership since 1998 as part of a restructuring and financing agreement with Bangor Hydro-Electric Co.

The PERC plant, commissioned in the late 1980s, is one of four facilities of its kind in Maine, according to a 2000 report by a state solid waste task force.

According to Lounder, the MRC has an 18 percent vote on all matters.