Energy company grows in Ellsworth

ELLSWORTH – R.H. Foster Energy has expanded its operations with the recent opening of a bulk propane plant off Route 3.

The new facility, which includes a 30,000-gallon-capacity storage tank, is located on a 4-acre parcel behind the company’s Hilltop on the Run gas station and convenience store.

The addition of the new plant is part of a plan to improve and expand propane service in central Maine, according to Robert Tracy, the company’s executive vice president.

In the past few years, the company has concentrated on improving and expanding its gas stations, adding convenience store and food service to those stations. The new effort will focus on improving service to its home and business customers, Tracy said Wednesday.

“We haven’t identified specific markets yet,” he said. “But our focus will be on growing our customer base in selected markets.”

The family-owned and -operated company has facilities in Machias, Ellsworth, Bangor, Greenville and Jackman.

“So there’s a lot of room for us to grow in central Maine,” Tracy said.

The company started with the Ellsworth plant because it is a core market for propane that until now has been served from the company’s bulk plant in Hermon. R.H. Foster is strictly a marketer of propane, which it imports by rail to that Hermon plant. It does not produce any propane, which is made from both natural gas processing and crude oil refining in roughly equal amounts, according to the Propane Education and Research Council.

In addition to the Hermon and Ellsworth facilities, the company has a bulk propane plant in Pembroke.

The local delivery drivers had been traveling to the Hermon bulk plant in order to serve the 1,500 or so customers in the Ellsworth-Mount Desert Island region, Tracy said.

“We think we can serve our customers a lot faster and more efficiently from this new bulk plant,” he said.

The plant includes “state-of-the-art” equipment and controls to ensure the safe handling of propane, and although the plant includes just one large storage tank, there is room for expansion if necessary.

The addition of the plant will not require new employees. Its operations will be handled by two regular delivery drivers along with the Hilltop on the Run store manager. In addition, the facility will be guarded by on-site and remote monitoring systems.