This story will be updated.
The foreclosed waste-to-energy incinerator in Orrington will be sold to a company that previously tried to buy another trash facility in Hampden.
Delta Thermo Energy made the winning bid of $1.5 million during an auction on Thursday for the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. plant in Orrington, according to Plant Manager Henry Lang. The facility had first gone to auction Oct. 25, but did not get a single bid that day.
“There were more bidders in this auction, compared to the one on October 25th and there were some observers hoping to start a deal with the new owners for power purchases, once the facility is back in operation,” Lang said in an email.
Lang said that Delta has five days from the auction to provide 10 percent of the sale amount minus the $50,000 already paid to qualify as a bidder. The remainder of the balance is due within 27 days.
Delta Thermo Energy had previously tried to buy the Hampden waste facility that shuttered in spring of 2020, less than a year after it started running. The CEO of Delta Thermo Energy, a Pennsylvania company, had embellished his business’ track record, and it ultimately lost its exclusive right to purchase the Hampden plant after failing to show evidence of financing.
The closure of both PERC and the Hampden facility has forced many communities to send their waste straight to the landfill.
Marie Weidmayer contributed reporting.
