YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A second mobile boiler has arrived at SOBE Thermal Energy LLC’s steam heating operation on North Avenue.
Reg Martin, the court-appointed receiver for SOBE, said the second boiler would be used to complement an existing mobile unit at the site. At present, the district heating company uses a single 650-horsepower boiler to provide steam heat and hot water service to 28 buildings downtown.
The second boiler, he said, would provide an additional 200 horsepower, allowing for a total of 850 horsepower to serve customers. Martin said that the single 650 unit is insufficient to provide adequate heating for the winter and would require at least 800 horsepower to supply its customers.
“We’re pleased the additional boiler has arrived,” Martin said. The process of installing the new unit has already started, and he acknowledged there might be some disruption in service as the additional capacity comes online. “We’re working to minimize any disruption,” he said.
Virginia-based Power Mechanical Corp., which provided the existing boiler, also dispatched the second, smaller boiler, Martin said.
SOBE Secures Funds From Enbridge
The arrival of a second boiler at the site comes less than two weeks after the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio reached a settlement agreement with East Ohio Gas – doing business as Enbridge Gas Ohio – regarding the commission’s investigation into the Realty Tower explosion in May 2024.
The explosion on May 28, 2024, was caused by maintenance workers cutting into what was documented as an inactive gas line maintained at the time by Enbridge. However, the line was still pressurized and caused an explosion that killed one person and injured several others. The Realty Tower building was razed months later.
Under the settlement, Enbridge has agreed to provide $1 million to support the Youngstown community, according to documents filed with the PUCO.
That money, according to the agreement, is to be distributed two-fold. One track is for “the lease or purchase of equipment necessary to ensure the continuity and reliability of essential heating and water service to commercial and residential buildings in downtown Youngstown.”
The remaining balance would be directed and used “for the benefit of Youngstown’s residents and/or organizations affected by the incident.”
According to a proposed gift agreement attached to the receiver’s first report filed with the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Dec. 9, Enbridge has agreed to give $750,000 of the $1 million to SOBE. The company is bound to use these funds for the lease or purchase of steam-heat equipment, including a third boiler that would serve as a backup to its existing operations so it could serve downtown customers.
Martin could not comment on the agreement with Enbridge.
According to court documents, the receiver “is confident the monetary gift from EOG will put SOBE in a much stronger position to assure the Youngstown community has uninterrupted steam heat and hot water service during the winter months and beyond.”
However, the receiver’s report cautioned that “even with this generous contribution, a permanent resolution to the economic and operational circumstances of SOBE will require significant additional capital.”
On Sept. 30, Wabash Power Corp. disconnected and repossessed a mobile steam heating trailer that it leased to SOBE so the company could provide heat to downtown customers. However, SOBE had failed to make lease payments on the unit, and a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ruled in August that Wabash had the right to repossess the equipment.
The court on Sept. 26 appointed Martin as a receiver to manage the assets of SOBE, citing the likelihood of insolvency. Last minute attempts by the PUCO to stay the repossession failed, since the unit had already been decommissioned, according to documents filed with the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
SOBE assumed the assets of Youngstown Thermal from receivership in 2019 and planned to use recycled tire chips to produce synthetic gas as a source to fuel its steam heating operation on North Avenue.
In the meantime, SOBE, based in Dublin, Ohio, agreed in 2019 to lease a mobile steam unit from Wabash so it could serve customers while the plant converted its systems to synthetic gas.
The synthetic gas project, however, was met with opposition from city residents and Mayor Jamael Tito Brown’s administration and never moved forward.