GRAND RAPIDS — Woodchuck, an AI-powered climate tech company focused on transforming wood waste into renewable energy, officially opened its flagship biomass processing facility in Grand Rapids. Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined local and state officials, clean energy advocates, and Grand Rapids business leaders in celebrating the launch of the nation’s first AI-driven wood waste-to-energy facility of its kind.
The new facility represents a breakthrough in sustainable energy production—combining advanced machine learning with localized waste diversion to turn construction and demolition wood waste into high-quality biomass for energy producers. In partnership with NorthStar Clean Energy, a CMS Energy Company,, Alloy Partners, Beckett Industries, and The Right Place, Woodchuck is establishing a model that bridges environmental responsibility with economic opportunity.
“Woodchuck’s new facility in Grand Rapids will create good-paying, high-skill jobs and build on Michigan’s leadership in AI, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy,” said Whitmer. “By turning waste into a productive resource, Woodchuck is helping us protect our precious natural resources and build a more cutting-edge, sustainable economy. Let’s keep working together to secure more projects just like Woodchuck in Michigan so we can lead the future and grow our economy.”
At full capacity, the facility will divert tens of thousands of tons of wood waste from landfills each year—converting it into renewable biomass to power local industries, support utility decarbonization, and reduce methane emissions from decomposing wood. By using AI to sort, identify, and process usable materials, Woodchuck drastically increases efficiency and transparency in a sector long plagued by fragmentation and contamination challenges…