MLILY Mattresses in Waycross, GA

Windspeeds reached 70 to 80 miles per hour in some South Georgia counties

WAYCROSS, Ga. – A Georgia school sustained major damage on Wednesday as strong winds from Hurricane Idalia blew through the area.

Photos sent to News4JAX show a large section of the roof of Hoboken Elementary School in Brantley County has been peeled away, exposing the classrooms inside.

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All Brantley Schools were closed on Wednesday and were expected to reopen Thursday, but the school district said all schools will remain closed on Thursday because of power outages across the county and facility damage at Hoboken Elementary School.

Updates and any changes to school plans will be communicated on the school system’s Facebook page and through its text-out system.

Hurricane Idalia left widespread damage throughout the state as windspeeds reached 70 to 80 miles per hour in some South Georgia counties.

In Waycross, a big tree took a powerline down on Riverside Avenue.

The woman living closest to the tree wouldn’t let News4JAX get too close to the root because another tree was leaning on her property.

She says this one came down around 1:30 p.m.

“Just sounded like a loud crash and the wind and the rain, just heavy wind and rain,” she said. “[I’m] very grateful because it could’ve went a whole other way and fell into the home so very grateful.”

Officials said crews will start working to restore power to those without it once storm conditions clear.

A large tree also fell on multiple cars on St. Simons Island. The person who sent News4JAX a photo of the downed tree said no one was hurt but the cars were damaged.

The Camden County Sheriff’s Office said a quick response by deputies and Camden Fire Rescue quickly extinguished a fire in the attic of the Griffith Building located at the Georgia Episcopal Center, located in the Dover Bluff area of Northeast Camden County.

A gust of wind blew a tree over which downed the power lines, bending the mast electrical service pole on the top of the building. That started an electrical fire in the attic located at the religious center.

No groups were at the center and only a caretaker was on the property.

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Waycross, Georgia, United States--Enviva PartnersEnviva Pellets Waycross,” has been operating since 2011 and has a production capacity of approximately 800,000 metric tons per year, which is A world record for the World's Largest Wood Pellet Plant, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

official website says.

"Enviva is a leading global energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy. We are the world’s largest producer of sustainable wood pellets, which provide a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels.

"We operate plants and ports in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, with corporate offices in four countries."

Biomass Magazine says.

"At a total cost of about €120 million (about $195 million), the plant and surrounding structures, as well as development of a port, took just over one year to construct.

"Wood pellets produced at the plant will be transported via train to the port of Savannah, Ga., about 100 miles away from the facility, and then shipped to Europe. They will be used primarily by RWE’s coal-fired power plants in the Netherlands, where up to 30 percent of coal-fired power plants are already cofired with biomass, according to the company."

"The plant will have an annual production capacity of 750,000 tonnes, making it the biggest and most modern of its type in the world. The project will be carried out in collaboration with BMC Management AB, which specialises in the development of biomass manufacturing solutions and is based in Sweden. The pellets will be used in pure biomass power plants as well as for the co-firing of coal and biomass. The pellets plant is due to take up operation in 2011. The total investment volume amounts to approx. €120 million," the official Press Release said.

"The biomass pellets will initially be burnt in the existing power plants of Amer in the Netherlands, where currently already up to 30% of the hard coal has been replaced by solid biomass, mainly wood pellets. The considerable volumes of biomass from Georgia will also help us achieve our goal of expanding this cofiring to up to 50%. The CO ₂ reductions achieved will be of a corresponding level. The two power plant units belong to Essent, which RWE took on as a result of the partnership both companies entered in September 2009. They have a total installed capacity of 1,245 MWel as well as 600 MWth. They generate electricity for the equivalent of three million households.

"Forests in Georgia provide enough wood to sustainably produce the pellets. Around 1.5 million metric tonnes of fresh wood are needed each year to produce 750,000 tonnes of pellets. Unlike Europe, the US have a huge growth surplus of wood that is not used. This is particularly true in the Georgia region, from which numerous paper and pulp companies have withdrawn over the past decade, thus further reducing the demand for wood. Wood growth is currently ahead of consumption in Georgia."

"RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the United States. The company is the world's second-largest offshore wind power generation and Europe's third-largest company in renewable energy. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, the RWE Group was ranked as the 297th-largest public company in the world," the Wikipedia says.

"RWE confirmed in December 2015 that it would separate its renewable energy generation, power grid and retail operations into a separate company, Innogy SE, during 2016, and sell a 10% holding in the business through an initial public offering. The restructuring was prompted by efforts to reduce the group's exposure to nuclear decommissioning costs, required due to a German government policy of closing all nuclear power stations by 2022.

"In July 2020, RWE completed a far-reaching asset swap deal with E.ON first announced in 2018, whereby the international renewable generation portfolio of E.ON and Innogy were transferred to RWE."

"Innogy SE was an energy company based in Essen, Germany. It is now merged and integrated into German energy company E.ON. In March 2018, it was announced that E.ON would acquire Innogy, in a complex deal of assets swap with RWE. The transfer of shares was completed in September 2019.

"The company was created on 1 April 2016, by splitting the renewable, network and retail businesses of RWE into a separate entity. The new entity combined RWE subsidiaries RWE Innogy, RWE Deutschland, RWE Effizienz, RWE Vertrieb and RWE Energiedienstleistungen.

"On 7 October 2016, it was listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. They served 23 million customers in Europe. In November 2017, it was announced that Innogy was looking to merge its energy retail subsidiary npower in the United Kingdom, with the equivalent division of rival SSE." (Wikipedia)

Florida Times Union says.

"Perdue said economic development is all about finding a way to match the state's strengths with a company's needs. In this case, the match between Georgia Biomass and Southeast Georgia "absolutely hits the sweet spot," he said.

"Biomass can be considered a green energy because the carbon emitted by burning fuel pellets is offset by the carbon absorbed when trees are grown, he said."

"Enviva Partners, LP (“Enviva” or the “Partnership”), a leading global energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy, today announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition of a world-class, industrial scale wood pellet production plant in Waycross, Georgia, and associated contracted terminal capacity in Savannah, Georgia. Enviva’s growing operational footprint across the U.S. Southeast now includes nine wood pellet production plants and five deep-water export terminals across Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida," the NASDAQ says.

"The newly acquired Waycross plant has been operating since 2011 and has a production capacity of approximately 800,000 metric tons per year, all of which is exported through the Port of Savannah to Enviva’s customers under long-term take-or-pay off-take contracts, many of which extend until the mid-2040s. Following the acquisition, Enviva’s total annual wood pellet production capacity is approximately 4.9 million metric tons. With the acquisition complete, the Waycross plant is now called, “Enviva Pellets Waycross.”

"The Waycross plant acquisition diversifies Enviva’s manufacturing footprint and expands its operations in a region that supplies one-fifth of the timber used globally each year. Enviva currently is integrating the plant into the wider Enviva organization and looks forward to working closely with local leaders, private forest landowners, and conservation organizations to continue to make a positive impact across the State of Georgia."

World's Largest Wood Pellet Plant: Waycross, Georgia

Enviva Biomass Waycross

Address: 3390 Industrial Blvd, Waycross, GA 31503, United States

Phone: +1 912-490-5293

Primary Content

Credit: Capitol Beat News Service

ATLANTA — A Finnish company that specializes in industrial manufacturing of buildings will construct its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Waycross, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.

ADMARES will invest $750 million in the plant, which is expected to create more than 1,400 jobs.

“Projects like this prove that in every part of the state, Georgia has what job creators look for,” Kemp said. “This project will not only bring more opportunities to hardworking Georgians, it will help innovate the home building industry at a time when we need more rural workforce housing.”

ADMARES specializes in the mass production of buildings using proprietary technology. Its buildings have been used in both the residential and hospitality sectors. The company will work in partnership with Porsche Consulting, MHP — a Porsche company — and Siemens.

“With the rise of modern industrialization practices, we have combined our expertise to create a revolutionary robotic-driven manufacturing process that allows entire buildings to be manufactured at a factory rather than on a traditional construction site,” said Mikael Hedberg, founder and CEO of ADMARES. “With our advanced technology, we are adopting successful practices that are common in other advanced industries.”

Hedberg said Waycross is an ideal location for the plant because of the area’s easy access to the Port of Brunswick as well as major highways and rail connections.

ADMARES will be hiring for positions in administration, management, engineering, IT, logistics, assembly, robotics maintenance and production. Interested individuals can learn more by visiting www.admares.com.

The Georgia Department of Economic Development worked on the project with the Waycross and Ware County Development Authority, Georgia Power and the Technical College System of Georgia’s Quick Start program.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Capitol Beat News Service.

Tags: Georgia Georgia Politics Brian Kemp Industry Waycross

Secondary Content

WAYCROSS, Ga. — Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday that ADMARES, which specializes in industrialized manufacturing of buildings and homes, plans to construct its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Waycross, Georgia.

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The company expects to create over 1,400 new jobs and invest $750 million in Ware County.

“Projects like this prove that in every part of the state, Georgia has what job creators look for,” said Gov. Kemp. “We’re proud to welcome ADMARES to the No. 1 state for business and thankful for their decision to locate in a rural part of Georgia, as so many other companies have done in recent years. This project will not only bring more opportunities to hardworking Georgians, but it will also help innovate the home building industry at a time when we need more rural workforce housing.”

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ADMARES is a company that originates from Turku, Finland and specializes in the mass production of buildings using proprietary technology. Currently, the organization is in the process of relocating its headquarters to the U.S. The company’s buildings have been used in both the residential and hospitality sectors.

ADMARES has selected a greenfield site to construct a 2.5-million-square-foot build-to-suit facility located along Highway 23 in Waycross. The manufacturing facility will specialize in producing buildings for the housing sector and is expected to begin production in late 2025.

The company will be hiring for positions in administration, management, engineering and IT, as well as logistics, assembly, robotics maintenance and production. Interested individuals can learn more about working at ADMARES by visiting www.admares.com.

“We are excited that ADMARES has chosen Ware County for their first production facility in the world,” said Ware County Commission Chairman Elmer Thrift.

Read: Georgia high court upholds dismissal of professors’ challenge to amendment allowing guns on campus

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A Finnish building manufacturer could receive about $144 million in grants, tax breaks and other incentives from state and local governments to build a $750 million mass production facility in South Georgia.

The incentive package offered to Admares was detailed in documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through the Georgia Open Records Act. The company specializes in mass production of buildings and houses and announced in May that it plans to open its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Waycross, about 240 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta.

On nearly 190 acres in Waycross, Admares plans to build a 2.5 million-square-foot factory — a building the size of the proposed mixed-use redevelopment of North DeKalb Mall. A prior news release said Admares will apply its Scandinavian expertise in shipbuilding to the homebuilding sector, manufacturing homes at factories and transporting them to neighborhoods.

Caption

State and local officials offered multiple tax credits, grants and other incentives to Admares in exchange for its investment and promise to employ 1,418 workers at an average annual salary of $55,960. Admares did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Ware County ended October with a 3.3% unemployment rate, roughly equivalent to the statewide rate, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the county’s poverty rate of 24.3% is nearly double the statewide figure, according to U.S. Census data. Ware County’s median household income of $39,419 is also significantly lower than that of Georgia as a whole.

Critics argue states, cities and counties offer incentives with a loose hand, shifting the burden of paying for growth onto other taxpayers. But proponents say these incentives are needed to outcompete other states, generate tax dollars on undeveloped land and expand employment opportunities, especially in rural corners of the state.

Earlier this year, Georgia lawmakers began a review of more than 50 tax credit programs, ranging from incentives for film to job tax credits offered automatically to most large employers to determine if taxpayers get the promised bang from the public largesse.

The largest inducement offered to Admares is an estimated $78.5 million in property tax savings from a 25-year local tax abatement. The Waycross and Ware County Development Authority will lease the 189-acre site along U.S. 23 to Admares through a complicated real estate transaction called a “bond-for-title” transaction, which results in a property tax break for the company.

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Admares will qualify for multiple incentive programs baked into Georgia code. These include job tax credits, credits covering qualified machinery costs, free job training for new workers through Georgia Quick Start and a port tax credit bonus for increasing imports and exports. The Georgia Department of Economic Development offered a discretionary $8 million Regional Economic Business Assistance (REBA) grant, which is used to “close the deal” when multiple states or countries are vying for the same project. According to state documents, Florida and California were competed for the Admares facility.

In June, Admares, the development authority and the state signed both a memorandum of understanding and performance and accountability agreement to finalize the incentive terms. Starting no later than February 2026, Admares will have to hit certain performance metrics — such as employment and private investment — to receive the incentives in full during a five-year performance period. Reaching 80% of the promised goals is considered compliance, according to the documents.

A spokesperson for the Waycross and Ware County Development Authority said Admares is in the design phase of its facility, which is expected to open in late 2025.

ExploreAudit sparks debate over cost effectiveness of Georgia’s job tax credits

Finland-based building manufacturer Admares is planning a $750 million facility in Waycross. Below are some of the more significant incentives offered by state and local governments to land the factory.

Total value: $143.9 million*†

- $78.5 million in local property tax breaks over 25 years

- $24.8 million in job tax credits

- $19.8 million in qualified machinery costs

- $8.9 million in a port tax credit bonus

- $8 million REBA grant

- $4 million in Georgia Quick Start job training for new workers

*Values are rounded

†Total value does not include certain incentives that are based on future potential expenditures