Next Step on the Path to Renovo Energy Center: Auction Held on Renovo Rail Equipment

RENOVO — Saturday saw an auction of the remaining contents of the defunct Renovo Rail’s facility in the Renovo Industrial Park.

The auction is the latest in an ongoing process to ready the industrial park site for the proposed Renovo Energy Center, an $800 million natural gas-to-electricity facility.

Saturday’s auction was under the auspices of Jersey Shore State Bank, which has a lien on the equipment of the failed Renovo Rail operation. The auction was conducted by Col. Steve Sitar & Company of Waverly.

An attendee told therecord-online there were some 10 bidders on site; some chose to bid online at the beginning of the auction for larger items such as a trackmobile  and forklifts. The trackmobile (used to move rail cars around a rail yard) was said to be worth $40,000 and went for $13,000. Forklifts in driving condition went for $3,000 or less. The facility’s massive cranes were considered part of the building and were not part of the sale.

Renovo Rail is reported responsible for demolition of the building when that stage of the energy project arrives. Local officials earlier had stated the demolition could occur in the first quarter of 2017 with construction of the massive natural gas-to-electricity plant to begin in the second quarter of next year.