Enviva reports Q3 2021 results, shares plant updates

Enviva has announced its financial and operating results for the third quarter of 2021, highlighting a net revenue increase of 5.2% and progress at several of its new production sites.

Construction of the Lucedale plant is nearing completion, and commissioning is expected to commence later this year. Enviva’s terminal at the Port of Pascagoula also remains on track to receive, store and load production from the Lucedale facility once it is operational.

The Northampton expansion is complete and the Southampton expansion continues its commissioning ramp-up. Construction on the Greenwood expansion is also nearing completion. Additionally, Enviva has made ‘significant investments’ in the ‘multi-plant expansions’, commencing at its Sampson and Hamlet plants, with Cottondale to follow.

Additionally, the company announced it has signed a contract with a European counterparty that processes solid biomass into refined liquids that become high-grade renewable fuels like sustainable aviation fuel and biodiesel.

John Keppler, chairman and CEO of Enviva, said: “For the third quarter of 2021, Enviva delivered financial and operational results that represent an important step forward for us, and we are positioned for a solid finish to what has been an incredible year for our company, our team, and our equity holders.

“Today, we are very pleased to announce our inaugural contact in the rapidly growing industrial sector, with a customer who will process our solid biomass into refined liquids that ultimately become high-grade renewable fuels like sustainable aviation fuel and biodiesel. We expect this important milestone to be just the first of many as we work with large industrial customers who can use our products to make difficult-to-decarbonise industries less greenhouse gas-intensive and more sustainable.

“The future has never been brighter for Enviva. With our transformative Simplification Transaction and Conversion, along with our expanding production capacity underpinned by our existing assets, the plant expansions underway, and the commissioning of the Lucedale plant and the Pascagoula terminal, we are entering 2022 with increased size and scale, a significantly improved cost of capital, and a broadening customer base.

“With the potential of exponential growth ahead of our product, driven by global commitments to net zero, we are continuing to build a company and a platform that delivers real climate change benefits, today, while consistently and sustainably delivering superior returns to our stakeholders.”

The $11.8 million (€10.2 million) increase in net revenue and product sales volumes was ‘temporarily dampened’ as a result of labour-related challenges and issues related to COVID-19. The impact was ‘more pronounced’ than anticipated. Based on the actions Enviva has taken and the plans in place, the company believes these issues are “beginning to be behind us”.

As part of the Simplification Transaction, which saw the acquisition of its former sponsor, Enviva Holdings LP, Enviva acquired projects at 15 plant sites, all in various stages of evaluation and development. One of these acquired sites is the fully contracted Epes plant, which is currently under development. Construction is expected to begin early next year, with an in-service date scheduled for mid-2023. The Epes facility is designed and permitted to produce more than one million tonnes per year of wood pellets, which would make it the largest wood pellet production plant in the world.

A prospective production facility in Bond, Mississippi is the next most likely to be constructed and is being developed to produce between 750,000 and more than 1 million tonnes per year of wood pellets. The Bond plant’s proximity to the Port of Pascagoula positions Enviva to transport its production efficiently by truck. Construction is expected to begin once the Epes plant is operational.