HOUGHTON – The L’Anse Warden Electric Company biomass plant could reopen later this month, after shutting down for repairs last month.

LWEC originally shut down Sept. 11 for routine maintenance, but ran into unexpected problems.

“When they were ready to fire up, they found other issues,” said Ed Lancaster, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) senior environmental quality analyst. “They’re expected to start up in mid- to late-October,” he said. The company informed MDEQ of a reopening timetable on Friday.

“Hopefully so,” CEO Steve Walsh said of the startup date. “It’s taking longer than we thought. We’re currently on an extended outage working on our turbine rotor,” which was built in the 1950s.

The plant closed to make repairs in the turbine generator rotor and electric field producing equipment.

“We’re making good use of the time we’re offline,” he said. “We’re working on enclosing the fuel handling system” and other maintenance projects.

The enclosure is required for the company to get its permit from the MDEQ.