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By MELODY JAMESON
mj@observernews.net
Ruskin – A company committed to making cheap energy from the sun and landfill refuse is looking for a Florida foothold starting in South Hillsborough County.
Epic Innovations International LLC (EII), a Florida-formed corporation currently partnering with universities and communities in the Western U.S. to generate electrical power from renewable solar and biomass sources now also is working with the recently-formed SHED Council to bring its carbon-neutral technology to the Sunshine State.
SHED, acronym for The South Hillsborough Economic Development Council formed in November to promote creation of new enterprises and jobs south of the Alafia River, announced its alliance with EII last week.
Jim Hosler, SHED Council’s managing director as well as a community planner and demographics expert, described EII as “a state-of-the art alternative energy company” and said the council’s role will be to assist the organization in its Florida search for partnership opportunities with utilities, cities, counties, companies and renewable resource farmers. “We would like to see Epic establish its first solar biomass hybrid facility in South Hillsborough, making use of both South County sun rays and the Southeast landfill to produce power 24/7.” Hosler said.
EII shares that objective, CEO Jeff Rahm told The Observer this week from the firm’s Philadelphia office. But, perhaps the largest obstacle to achieving it is the resistance of major utilities operating coal-fired or nuclear power generating plants such as Tampa Electric Company, Florida Power and Light Company and Progress Energy, he noted. Tampa Electric, a unit of multi-faceted corporate parent TECO and whose stock is publicly traded, owns and operates, among several, the Big Bend power plant on the eastern shore of Tampa Bay. Tampa Electric controls as well a network of transmission lines throughout the region, including South Hillsborough. Progress Energy and FPL, also investor-owned utilities, supply power along Florida’s west coast and in South Florida through multiple plants.
Tampa Electric spokesman Rick Morero noted, though, that a greater obstacle may be that Florida utilities must seek and obtain the approval of the state’s Public Service Commission to enter into the kind of agreements allowing partnership with an alternative energy producer. The commission has to be satisfied any such arrangement is beneficial for utility customers, he emphasized.
In fact, in early 2009, he added, Tampa Electric struck an agreement with a Florida East Coast entity, Energy 5.0, which plans a 25 megawatt, solar-generated power facility using photovoltaic technology on a 350-acre site in Polk County. The arrangement is expected to produce 48,000 megawatt hours of electricity annually for Tampa Electric customers beginning in 2011 at a slight increase to their bills of perhaps 50¢ per 1000 KW hours. PSC approval of that 25-year arrangement was received last month, Morero said.
Rahm, an aerospace engineer with expertise in efficiency technology, asserted the “resistance” that obstructs establishment of alternative energy generators is related primarily to money. Power generated through combination of sunlight and landfill refuse or other biomass at this point must be sold to established utilities or municipalities/communities which have the transmission lines available to forward it to end users, the consumers, he explained. Alternative energy companies cannot now establish their own transmission grids and the “wheeling” fees charged by the utilities for sharing their transmission lines diminishes the economic appeal of alternative power, he added.
The national average cost per kilowatt currently is $.10, Rahm noted.
Florida utilities have been unwilling to pay any more than 4.5 cents per kilowatt for purchased power from alternative energy companies. And, EII must make 6.5 cents per kilowatt , the engineer said. Consequently, even though the EII technology can provide safe, clean alternative power from renewable sources, without using nuclear, coal or oil fuels, and reduce both the refuse volume and methane gases in landfills as part of the process, it has not yet made headway in the state.
For this reason, EII has been focusing much of its efforts – and investors’ capital - in western states, including Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, California and Nevada where the concept of clean, safe alternative energy is embraced with enthusiasm by utilities and communities alike, Rahm said. The company also has teamed with Texas A&M University and Texas Tech to create a renewable energy program and is working with Colorado State University to accomplish the same objective.
EII’s proven technology utilizing a hybrid of sun and biomass can produce 5000 megawatts from a thousand-acre facility or 10 KW or 100 KW to serve rural communities, Rahm added. And, because the fuel is a combination or hybrid of constantly renewing resources, the technology is a source of power around the clock, day and night, he emphasized.
What’s more, the cost of the generating facility itself also is more economical. The cost of producing one megawatt through photovoltaic technology such as President Barach Obama recently touted in the Arcadia, Florida, area, has been set at $4 million, Rahm pointed out. That same megawatt generated through a hybrid plant comes at a cost of $150,000 – and with a radically reduced carbon footprint, he added.
Hosler said the SHED Council currently is looking into opportunities for applying the EII technology in partnership with existing utilities relying on fossil fuels for generating their products. Such partnerships, he added, are made “particularly attractive because EII has its own investors and investment capital available.”
To which Rahm added, “We’d love to come back to Florida.”
The SHED Council website address is www.SHEDCouncil.com.
Copyright 2010 Melody Jameson
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