| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Barbara Herron 410-732-9564 BRCPC Contracts with Energy Answers to Buy 25 Megawatts of Tier 1 Renewable Energy for 10 Years (August 25, 2011 - Baltimore, MD) -The Baltimore Regional Cooperative Purchasing Committee (BRCPC), representing 22 entities in the Baltimore region, has contracted with Energy Answers to purchase electricity for 10 years from the Fairfield Renewable Energy Power Plant, a 160 MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant to be built on the Fairfield Peninsula in Baltimore City. The generating plant is expected to spur development of an Eco-Industrial Park on the 90-acre "brownfield" site formerly occupied by the FMC Corporation, which manufactured agricultural chemical products. Energy Answers is an award-winning, international designer and developer of environmentally sound resource recovery systems. Its goal is to reach "zero disposal" by effectively recovering all the resources in the material now seen as 'waste'. Its resource recovery facilities utilize municipal solid waste (post-recycling) to generate clean, renewable energy for local communities. The participating entities include the governments of Baltimore City and Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties; the cities of Annapolis, Aberdeen and Bowie; public schools in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford and Howard counties; community colleges in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford and Howard counties; the Baltimore City Housing Authority; Baltimore County Libraries and Revenue Authority; Baltimore Museum of Art; and Walters Art Gallery. The BRCPC energy consortium currently purchases 1.6 million MWh of electricity annually on the wholesale market. This contract will supplement its current purchases in wholesale electricity markets, and help stabilize the energy budgets of the participating entities. The new plant will also add needed generating capacity in the Baltimore region, and mitigate congestion costs on the grid which supplies electricity to the entire mid-Atlantic region. The plant will require approximately 4,000 tons/day of fuel from processed solid waste to generate steam and electricity. The solid waste will be processed through shredding at several off-site facilities to reduce moisture to create a homogenous fuel that will burn cleanly and efficiently. In addition to ferrous metals being recovered pre-combustion, the remaining ferrous and non-ferrous metals will be recovered post-combustion from the generating plant for recycling, and the remaining ash will be used to manufacture building materials and asphalt. The generating plant, which will include solar panels to generate its own electricity, will be eligible for LEED certification. Energy Answers has already obtained needed permits, and will break ground as soon as financing is finalized. The first two boilers will come online about 30 months after construction begins. Construction is expected to generate more than 1,200 union construction jobs over a 3-year period. The plant will require more than 180 permanent "green collar" jobs, with the potential for hundreds more in the energy-intensive industries that could locate in the Fairfield Eco-Industrial Park. Compatible industries could include manufacture of concrete products, recycled paper milling, bio-fuels production, climate-controlled warehousing, and research laboratories. "The Fairfield Renewable Energy Project is an exciting addition to the entire region," said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Chair of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. "Energy Answers is redeveloping a brownfield site in a way that will create hundreds of jobs, serve as a catalyst for new industry, and add generating capacity in Central Maryland. The contract to purchase energy from the new plant will help Energy Answers obtain financing, and will also help protect local governments from fluctuations in the energy market." # # # | 
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