Powers Energy of America, Schneider Indiana garbage to ethanol and solar farm

Great news! Powers Energy of America is adding a solar energy farm to the garbage-to-ethanol plant site in Schneider, Indiana. See the Post- Tribune article below The location is only about 17 miles east of Momence and Grant Park, i.e. Route 17 east of Grant Park to Indiana 2, turn south on Hwy 41 and travel a couple of miles and you are there. What a shame this kind of job creation is not happening here! Hundreds and hundreds of good paying jobs! This is what can happen if a community decides to think out of the box on economic development instead of putting politics first as is done in Kankakee County.

Background information: Power Energy of America, Inc., Evansville, Indiana. www.powersenergyofamerica.com/index2.html. They are the parent company of Powers Energy 1 of Indiana building a garbage-to-ethanol plant in Schneider Indiana and Powers Energy 2 of Kentucky building a plant in Henderson County Kentucky. They are one of several companies who have licensed the technology from Ineos, a global company with $45 billion in annual sales. To read about Ineos go to http://www.ineosbio.com/50-Heritage_and_history.htm To learn more about this proven garbage-to-ethanol technology now operating in Fayetteville Arkansas, click here http://www.ineosbio.com/80-Video.htm

Solar power plant coming to Schneider, Indiana garbage-to-ethanol plant site

SCHNEIDER, Indiana -- The developers of the planned garbage-to-ethanol plant in South Lake County will build one of the country's largest solar energy facilities adjacent to the property.

The $75 million, 137,000-panel solar power plant could break ground in as soon as 45 days, said Earl Powers, president of Powers Energy of America, which is developing the ethanol plant.

Phase I construction, a 22,000-panel 5 megawatt facility, will take just 60 to 90 days.

Evansville-based Powers Energy is working to finalize an agreement with SunDurance Energy, of Edison, N.J., to act as the "engineering, procurement and construction contractor" on the project, a SunDurance spokesperson said Tuesday.

SunDurance is a division of The Conti Group, a 104-year-old national infrastructure, engineering and construction development company whose clients include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Citgo, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed, Merck and Westinghouse.

"We have a commitment for financing," Powers Energy President Earl Powers told the Post-Tribune. "Right now we're working on several things we need to do to make it a reality."

Powers Energy Engineer Ken Bosar said signed paperwork was expected to be completed by this week or next week for the solar plant, and by the end of the month for Powers Energy's planned $254 million garbage-to-ethanol plant at the same site on the north end of Schneider.

Both projects are being bankrolled by the same entities, none of which are in the state of Indiana, Earl Powers said. Officials involved in the projects declined to disclose the names of the financial backers because of confidentiality agreements.

The Lake County Solid Waste Management District has no financial interest in the solar plant, District chief Jeff Langbehn said. But because the District has a 20-year renewable contract with Powers to deliver Lake County municipal waste to the bioethanol plant for conversion into ethanol, district officials have joined Powers, SunDurance and Conti in talks with state officials within the last month regarding the solar plant.

"If we get the green light, we'll have an executive board meeting," Langbehn said.

Powers said the solar power plant is a separate project from the solar panels he plans to install on top of his bioethanol plant's 23-acre processing building, although the electricity produced by both will be sold to power companies.

"It's a tough community out there for financing," Powers said. "We're fortunate to have a commitment."

Will need 100 acres for solar. Powers said he has already met with Northwest Indiana's trade unions who will provide construction labor for the project. "They're helping us get some items we need for closing on the financing," Powers said. Powers Energy is in negotiations with landowners to buy or lease about 100 acres initially for the solar plant and up to 500 acres when it is completed, Bosar said.

The solar plant will begin as a 5 megawatt facility because of current energy regulations, and will expand yearly to a maximum of about 100 megawatts within five years, Bosar said.

Once the solar plant can grow beyond 5 megawatts Powers will look to the not-for-profit regional transmission organization Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (Midwest ISO) which will conduct a detailed transmission study that takes about 225 days.

The largest operating solar plant in the United States is a 25-megawatt facility in Florida. Several other plants are in the process of expanding, but with no plans larger than 80 megawatts.

Earlier this month Oakland, Calif.-based Brightsource Energy Inc. announced plans to build the world's largest thermal solar energy project, the Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating System (ISEGS), consisting of three plants combined into a 392-megawatt solar electric generating system in the Mojave Desert.

Powers purchased land within and adjacent to Schneider late last year and had the property annexed to locate the bioethanol plant that is planned to eventually process 10,000 tons of Lake County municipal waste per day into ethanol.

"We may be able to break ground this year on the bioethanol plant," Powers said.

The bioethanol facility would produce 350 to 400 construction jobs. Permanent jobs will increase from 120 initially to 360 as phases are added. The bioethanol plant will operate 24-7, Powers said. The solar plant will involve minimal installation and maintenance, he added.

Powers Energy must still obtain a number of environmental permits before it can proceed with construction of the bioethanol plant.

Powers is waiting for permitting to be issued for the New Planet BioEnergy bioethanol plant in Florida so Powers can use that application permit as a blueprint to apply to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for its own permits. The Indian River, Fla. plant is being constructed by INEOS Bio, a British chemical company from which Powers purchased the rights to use its patented technology for garbage-to-ethanol conversion.