Alternative energy park is in the works

Design plans for a proposed alternative energy park are moving forward, and it appears the company building it will be eligible for federal incentives.

Kyle Mowitz, president of Imperium, the South Florida developer that will construct and operate the park, said his company is in the process of hiring specialty contractors to build a gasification plant on 3,000-plus acres just east of Dover Road.

And from all indications, the project is still eligible for a 30 percent investment tax credit on income from the project during its first 10 years of operation. The tax credit comes through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Mowitz said Democrats in Congress proposed keeping alternative energy incentives alive as part of a compromise with Republicans, who want to keep Bush tax cuts alive even for the wealthiest Americans.

That's a huge incentive, considering that in a decade or so, the cost of the energy park could top $1 billion.

In addition to a gasification plant, the Infinitus Renewable Energy Park will include a solar farm, fish and algae farms and hydroponic vegetable nursery. It is expected to create 600 jobs initially.

But, first things first.

For the next year or so, heavy equipment will be used to reclaim the old Sydney phosphate mine. About half of the work was done by the property owners and Imperium is finishing it, Mowitz said.

The project has gotten a green light from Hillsborough County and the state's Department of Community Affairs. So, once the land is restored, construction can begin on a gasification plant that will convert household and agricultural waste into energy.

The Infinitus Renewable Energy Park will also include a solar farm, fish and algae farms and hydroponic vegetable nursery. It is expected to create 600 jobs initially.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe is among those cheering the project forward.

"Energy production is always a good thing," Sharpe said. "If our state is going to be economically competitive, we need an ample supply of affordable energy. And we need for as much of it as possible to be from alternative sources.

And, he said, the site in Sydney fits the bill.

"It's a reasonable use for that spot," Sharpe said. "The citizens rightly were concerned about large tract development there. For energy production, I hope it will fit well into that area. The reality is any time you produce a lot of energy it requires a lot of space."

The energy park would be the latest business to join Hillsborough County's growing biosciences cluster. The business is expected to create clean energy, clean food and clean jobs, Mowitz recently told a group of bioscientists meeting in Tampa.

The gasification plant would create synthesis gas that can be converted into electricity or fuel. Any carbon monoxide produced by the plant would be absorbed by algae grown on site, Mowitz said.

The algae would later be harvested to make algae cakes to feed the fish, he said.

The gasification plant will purchase and use hundreds of thousands of gallons of reclaimed water coming from a nearby Hillsborough County wastewater treatment plant.

"It's a great defining use for the reclaimed water and they are going to purchase it," Sharpe said. "There's a lot of icing on the cake."

He said the county staff is conducting an audit of all solid waste in the county, where it comes from and where it goes.

"If we can convert as much of that as possible (to energy) with less waste and byproduct, that's good for the county," Sharpe said.

yhammett@tampatrib.com

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