Duke, Areva form Adage

The new company, Adage, will work to develop new, environmentally friendly biopower energy in the United States.

Areva, traditionally involved in nuclear power, will work with South Carolina-based Duke to build power plants across the United States that use wood waste-to-power technology to provide power to electricity customers.

Areva will design and build the biomass power plants and Duke Energy Generation Services will manage operations. Adage plans to negotiate power-purchase agreements and fuel contracts for each plant it constructs.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the current total installed capacity of wood biomass power generation is about 6,000 megawatts, though it is estimated that with continued investment, that number could double over the next 10 years.