Proposed Whitehall bioenergy complex still in the works, could bring 150 jobs

The proposed transformation of a former Muskegon County wastewater plant into a self-sustaining bioenergy complex is moving at a snail's pace – but it is moving, according to Scott Erdman, the visionary behind the idea.

Erdman, 48, proposes transforming the brownfield site at 2000 Holton-Whitehall Road, Whitehall, into the 640-acre Silver Creek New Energy Development. He's promoted the plan for nearly five years, hitting a number of hurdles along the way – but in February he says he'll close on the $1.325 million purchase of the property.

The Department of Environmental Quality approved a $1 million Clean Michigan Initiative Brownfield Redevelopment Loan for a baseline environmental assessment, demolition and other related costs.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation awarded $491,767 in tax capture to the project.

The plan proposes:

• Setting aside 40 acres for biodigester and ethanol production plants. The biodigester would produce energy using waste products from local fruit, vegetable and meat processors who would pay for disposal. The electricity produced would provide power to the complex.
• Producing biodiesel from algae grown in a 50-acre pond on-site.
• Farming (using the biodiesel), a third of the property for cash crops using fertilizer produced by the biodigester.   
• Growing cranberries for market in any/all of several one-acre basins.
• Constructing greenhouses to grow tomatoes for the commercial market.
• Using 75 acres for commercial purposes, including a fuel station to sell the ethanol and biodiesel.

""We're not waiting for the money to close on the property, that's a done deal. We're currently putting together our pilot plants at Erdman Machine," says Erdman, who owns the machine shop located across the road. "From there we'll ramp up to a standard plant."

If things move forward as Erdman anticipates, he says the development could create 150 jobs over the next several years.

"The farming operations will start right away (after the closing and approval of an environmental study). The big plan is to raise the capital for the [biodigester]," Erdman says."We're working with several venture capitalists to raise the capital for the development."

Source: Scott Erdman, Silver Creek New Energy Development, Erdman Machine Company

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].