Woodland Biofuels Inc. (Toronto, Ont., Canada) announced a planned $1.35-billion investment at the Port of South Louisiana to establish what is said to be the world’s largest carbon-negative renewable natural-gas plant and ultra-green hydrogen facility. Phase 1 of this project is the largest carbon negative renewable natural gas facility globally. Phase 2 is the world’s largest carbon negative ultra-green hydrogen plant. The Toronto-based company will utilize waste biomass to produce sustainable biofuel used in transportation, heating and electricity generation.
In Phase 1 alone the company expects to create approximately 500 construction jobs and 110 high-paying, permanent, direct new jobs. Louisiana Economic Development estimates that the project will result in 259 indirect new jobs for a total of 869 jobs, 369 of which are permanent.
The new facility will be located at the Globalplex multimodal facility at the Port of South Louisiana. The company expects to permanently remove hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually and store it safely underground. Phase 1 is expected to permanently remove 210,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. Phase 2 will remove approximately 660,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. Ultimately, the project is expected to be one of the largest carbon dioxide removal projects globally – permanently removing millions of tonnes of CO2 from the ecosystem.
“Woodland is thrilled to announce that we plan to build, right here at the Port of South Louisiana, the world’s largest carbon negative RNG facility, followed by the world’s largest carbon negative ultra-green hydrogen plant. Our sustainable biofuel plant will be an economic driver for St. John Parish and beyond,” Woodland Biofuels CEO Greg Nuttall said. “We look forward to establishing deep ties with the local community, drawing on the existing world-class workforce and utilizing Louisiana’s exceptional infrastructure to execute on our project.”
Commercial operations for the first phase are projected to start in 2028.
“With a multigenerational skilled workforce and abundant natural resources, there is no place in the world better positioned to help energy companies grow and thrive,” Secretary of Economic Development Susan Bourgeois said. “Woodland Biofuels’ project would bring high-paying jobs to the great people of St. John the Baptist Parish for years to come. The state looks forward to working with the company to bring this project to completion.”
“Port of South Louisiana is the second ranked port in the nation for energy transfer,” Port of South Louisiana CEO Paul Matthews said. “This significant investment by Woodland Biofuels to construct the world’s largest carbon negative renewable natural gas plant and a large-scale green hydrogen facility at our Globalplex Intermodal Terminal proves that PortSL and the state of Louisiana are leading the way in diversifying our energy industry, which will result in the creation of hundreds of high-paying jobs for River Region families.”
To support the project in Reserve, LED offered Woodland Biofuels a competitive incentives package that the Company values at more than $250 million, including performance-based grants, other economic development programs for infrastructure improvements and the comprehensive workforce development solutions of LED FastStart. The company is expected to participate in the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.
“Woodlands Biofuels is proof of the power of Louisiana and GNO’s ‘all of the above’ energy strategy,” Greater New Orleans, Inc President and CEO Michael Hecht said. “$1.3B plus 110 new jobs plus renewable natural gas and hydrogen is a winning formula for everyone. Congratulations to the Port of South Louisiana, and GNO, Inc. is glad to have been a partner for this outstanding project.”