Detroit Renewable Energy LLC – Q2 Review 2011
Steven White, Chairman
Detroit Renewable Energy LLC (“DRE”) is committed to providing the City of Detroit and surrounding municipalities with safe, reliable and cost-effective solutions for clean energy and waste disposal. DRE owns a group of assets critical to the supply and distribution of renewable energy: (i) Detroit Thermal, LLC (“Detroit Thermal”), a district energy business that provides efficient heat to most of the buildings in downtown Detroit and the Woodward Avenue corridor; (ii) Detroit Renewable Power LLC (“DRP”), an energy-from-waste facility that processes and combusts municipal solid waste into electricity and steam that is sold to Detroit Thermal; and (iii) Hamtramck Energy Services, which provides operating and maintenance services to several GM plants. DRE was formed in November 2010.
At this point, we have experienced elements of both the challenge and the opportunity embodied in the DRE investment. As we have brought the DRP facility to longer stretches of improved operability, we have seen evidence of the efficiencies and financial performance that can provide DRE with attractive, long-term returns. On the other hand, while significant progress has been made, the DRP facility will continue to consume capital as our management team puts in place the necessary capital improvements. We understood the magnitude of deferred maintenance at the DRP facility at the point of acquisition. Restoring and operating the facility at the standards necessary for success remains the challenge ahead of us.
We are proud to announce that Detroit Thermal was recognized for its business development activities at the 102nd International District Energy Association conference held in Toronto, Canada, receiving a Bronze award for the volume of additional square feet commitments achieved by Detroit Thermal in 2011. Congratulations to the team at Detroit Thermal, as we placed ahead of more than 200 other district energy systems.
Last but most importantly, we made significant progress in regard to employee safety during the quarter. In Q2, DRE’s recordable incident rate dropped to 2.72 from the 3.76 realized in Q1. Our managers continue to emphasize the Atlas safety culture as we strive to achieve world-class safety performance.
