EPISODE · May 27, 2026 · 12 MIN
Why Lumber Mills Are Building Their Own Power Plants
from The Manufacturing Economy with Fexingo: Factories, Industrial Output, and Domestic Production · host Fexingo
Episode 13 of The Manufacturing Economy goes inside America's sawmills to explore an unlikely trend: lumber mills are building their own power plants to escape the grid bottleneck. Hosts Lucas and Luna walk through the specific economics of biomass cogeneration at a single Idaho mill that now generates 35 percent of its own electricity from bark and sawdust. They unpack why local utility interconnection delays — which can run 3 to 5 years — are pushing mills off the grid entirely, how the Inflation Reduction Act's investment tax credit makes on-site power cheaper, and what this means for the broader push to reshore wood products manufacturing. The episode also touches on the 2025 tariff on Canadian lumber imports and how captive power might give domestic mills a structural cost advantage. No broad theory — just a concrete case study of one mill, one boiler, and one P&L pivot. #LumberMills #Biomass #Cogeneration #PowerGrid #Manufacturing #Reshoring #EnergyCosts #RenewableEnergy #Idaho #Sawmill #IndustrialPolicy #Tariffs #InflationReductionAct #GridCongestion #SupplyChain #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
What this episode covers
Episode 13 of The Manufacturing Economy goes inside America's sawmills to explore an unlikely trend: lumber mills are building their own power plants to escape the grid bottleneck. Hosts Lucas and Luna walk through the specific economics of biomass cogeneration at a single Idaho mill that now generates 35 percent of its own electricity from bark and sawdust. They unpack why local utility interconnection delays — which can run 3 to 5 years — are pushing mills off the grid entirely, how the Inflation Reduction Act's investment tax credit makes on-site power cheaper, and what this means for the broader push to reshore wood products manufacturing. The episode also touches on the 2025 tariff on Canadian lumber imports and how captive power might give domestic mills a structural cost advantage. No broad theory — just a concrete case study of one mill, one boiler, and one P&L pivot. #LumberMills #Biomass #Cogeneration #PowerGrid #Manufacturing #Reshoring #EnergyCosts #RenewableEnergy #Idaho #Sawmill #IndustrialPolicy #Tariffs #InflationReductionAct #GridCongestion #SupplyChain #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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Why Lumber Mills Are Building Their Own Power Plants
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