E-grass on the horizon - Local firm to build world's first large-scale biomass power plant
Date: 9.7.2006
A local company is planning to build the world's first commercial-scale power plant fueled with crops grown on site -- a plan aimed at reducing pollution and diversifying energy sources.
Gulf Breeze-based Biomass Investment Group recently landed a 25-year agreement with a power company that provides electricity to 1.5 million customers in south-central Florida.
For Allen Sharpe, Biomass' chief executive officer, it's the beginning of the payoff for years of work and a $3 million investment.
The agreement calls for Biomass to build and operate a 130-megawatt power plant that will turn a bamboo-like type of woody grass into electricity. St. Petersburg-based Energy Progress will buy the entire output.
Sharpe said the power plant will be constructed on 15,000 acres near Lake Okeechobee, where the grass that fuels the plant also will be grown. The plant is expected to be operational by 2008.
Sharpe, who grew up on a farm in North Carolina and has degrees in history, political science and law, developed an interest in renewable energy about five years ago, he said.
For several years, he contacted electricity companies across the state, including Gulf Power Co., trying to sell his low-emission energy idea.
"Most of them used coal and natural gas, which were very cheap at that time. So, I got a lot of no's."
He had identified an energy crop -- which he refers to as e-grass, a plant that originated in the Mediterranean basin hundreds of years ago -- that had a higher BTU (British Standard Unit of Energy) than most biomass plants, was easy to harvest and store and had a low maintenance cost and a high yield per acre.
Sharpe presented the project to several investors, hired engineers and specialists and carried on his plans.
Last week, he went to Jamaica to meet with United States Ambassador Brenda LaGrange Johnson, who invited him to discuss business possibilities there.
He also is considering business in Mexico, Honduras and other places with large available land that would benefit from the renewable energy e-grass provides.
For now, the only concrete agreement is with Progress Energy, which already has requested a second power plant, Sharpe said.
The energy expected to be provided by Biomass accounts for a small percentage of Progress Energy's energy resources. The Biomass plant will help serve about 83,000 of Progress Energy Florida's 1.5 million customers, according to Progress spokesman C.J. Drake.
While biomass, or e-grass, is far from being a major energy source, Drake said it has several benefits:
· Once planted, e-grass does not have to be planted again.
· The process would consume more carbon dioxide than it emits.
· E-grass helps diversify sources of energy.
· Over the 25-year life of the contract, the plant is expected to avoid burning nearly 9 million tons of coal.
· Compared to recent fluctuating natural gas prices, the energy provided to Progress will be 2 to 4 cents cheaper per kilowatt of electricity, Sharpe said.
· Because the energy source will be grown in Florida, it contributes to the state's economy. The plant is expected to employee 75 to 100 people, Sharpe said.
John Hutchinson, spokesman for Gulf Power, a subsidiary of Georgia-based Southern Company, also said biomass energy is a good opportunity to save on other natural resources.
"It is important to have fuel diversity, from a price standpoint. If natural gas goes up, we can burn other fuel and less natural gas."
Gulf Power is considering negotiations with a Panama City plant that produces a small amount of electricity -- which also is considered biomass energy-- but said other biomass energy projects would not be considered until there was a need to increase its electricity capacity.
"When we have a need for new generation, then we would consider new fuel types and all kinds of biomass," Hutchinson said.
About 77 percent of Gulf Power's electricity is generated using coal; 17 percent uses natural gas, and the rest comes from nuclear, hydro and purchases from other utilities, Hutchinson said.
Progress Energy's fuel resources include 40 percent coal, 20 percent from nuclear, 20 from oil and 20 percent from natural gas, according to Drake.
Hutchinson said coal prices are more stable and remain the cheapest fossil fuel, which keeps Gulf Power's electricity rates cheaper than Progress' price.
Biomass energy isn't always the cheapest option, Hutchinson said.
"It can be cheaper or it can be a lot more expensive depending on a lot of factors, including transportation costs," he said.
But from an environmental stand point, the use of renewable energy continues to be encouraged, and in many states it has become a requirement.
As of Sept. 2005, 21 of the nation's states had established Renewable Portfolio Standards requirements -- a policy that ensures a minimum amount of renewable energy (wind, solar, biomass) be included in the portfolio of electricity resources serving a state or country -- according to an EPA report.
Florida is not one of those states.
Hutchinson said he is not opposed to biomass energy use, but the possibility of such a requirement is a concern to him.
"When you start dictating percentages, you start limiting flexibility in terms of cost," he said.
Drake, of Progess Energy, said the company will be able to purchase energy from Biomass Investment Group at a slightly cheaper price compared to its other fuel sources. But one of the appealing aspects that prompted the company to make the deal was an emphasis on fuel diversity. Renewables account for about 5 percent of Progress' total portfolio of 10,400 megawatts generated and purchased power capacity, Drake said.
Drake believes Biomass has a great potential.
"Right now it's very small, but who knows what the future may bring."
There is not enough available land to plant the crop in the U.S. to make it a major source of energy. But for some countries, especially islands, where fuel transportation costs are high, this represents an enormous opportunity, Sharpe said.
In fact, he believes 75 percent of his projects will be outside the U.S.
According to Sharpe, the only e-grass farm existing in the U.S. is based in California, where a company utilizes the woody grass to build musical instruments.
Source:[ http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060702/BUSINESS/607020316/1003]
Related articles
Genome sequencing reveals a key to viable ethanol production - As the national push for alternative energy sources heats up, researchers at the University of Rochester have for the first time identified how genes responsible for biomass breakdown are turned on in a microorganism that produces valuable ethanol from materials like grass and cornstalks (8.3.2007)
