Northwest Renewable has announced plans to begin construction on a USD 72.5 million biomass energy conversion plant next year. The biomass plant will be constructed in Longview, Washington by the Vancouver, Canada-based company. Northwest Renewable is owned by US Ethanol which announced three years ago that it would built a proposed USD 100 million corn-ethanol energy facility on the same Longview site where they have now announced their new biomass plant for next year. The company has said that the change in projects is a result of new designs in the industry that would incorporate new technology developments aimed at improving the amount of energy generated by biomass plants. US Ethanol is a subsidiary of Makad and had previously proposed the biomass plant three years prior. The plant expected to be constructed next year will have 24MW capacity and will be powered by wood chips and hog fuel which will be used to generate steam. The steam will then drive a turbine designed to generate electricity.