Efforts to bring an East Coast bio-energy company to Gilroy that
would produce the world’s first commercial-scale, renewable jet
fuel production plant using biomass and trash received some
financial muscle Monday. Full article
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Gilroy’s trash is closer to becoming a multibillion-dollar industry’s treasure.
Efforts to bring an East Coast company to the Garlic Capital that would produce the world’s first commercial-scale, renewable jet fuel production plant received some financial muscle Monday, as a group of airlines signed letters of intent with Solena Fuels, LLC for a future supply of the fuel derived from biomass for the San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco airports.
The $300 million plant could bring between 200 and 250 jobs and cast Gilroy into the spotlight as one of the nation’s newest alternative fuel producers, said economic and business leaders.
“I think it would be a first step in maybe getting some other bio-ag businesses to look at Gilroy,” said Tammy Brownlow, president of the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation.
She said talks with Dennis Miller, Solena’s vice president and science adviser, during the past couple of months have shown her the company is ready to take its next steps.
“It sounded like things were, in his mind, moving forward. It seems like things are lining up for them in terms of the financing and letters of intent for buyers of the jet fuel.” Brownlow said. “We just need to connect all the dots.”
American Airlines and United Continental Holdings led the Air Transport Association of America agreement with Solena, and were joined by Alaska Airlines, FedEx, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, US Airways, Air Canada, Frontier Airlines and Lufthansa German Airlines.
Gilroy Chamber of Commerce President Susan Valenta said the project could give Gilroy something to be famous for outside its garlic moniker.
“The times that we’re in, with the new technologies and alternative fuels, how great would it be for Gilroy to be on the map as one of the communities that actually fosters that?” Valenta said.
Brownlow said Solena had been eyeing land at the McCarthy Business Park east of U.S. Highway 101 and south of Gilroy’s outlet stores.
In 2008, the Dispatch reported Solena, a Washington D.C. company, had been negotiating with Norcal Waste System – now Recology – to lease a landfill site on Pacheco Pass Highway.
Efforts to confirm with Recology if that was still the case weren’t successful as of press time.
Brownlow said the McCarthy area was ideal for Solena’s project because of its proximity to agricultural and municipal waste. She said the company was looking to open approximately two years after breaking ground, though no date for doing so had been set.
The project should net some jobs and a boost to the city even before it’s built, Brownlow said.
“I would think that there would be construction-related jobs that would have a big impact on our local economy,” she said.
City of Gilroy Planner Melissa Durkin said, to her knowledge, Solena had not submitted any project plans or spoken with the city’s planning department.
City Administrator Tom Haglund said the Solena name had “floated around apparently for three of four years” but he hadn’t seen any evidence that a project would soon begin.
“I’ve never seen anything credible related to a bio-fuel plant in Gilroy and I don’t believe anyone else has either,” Haglund said. “I have not confronted any specific information about Solena that would indicate that they are coming to Gilroy.”
He said the prospect of the plant was exciting, but added the city had never dealt with a project on par with a bio-fuel plant.
“Obviously we love to hear about the possibilities, but it would be an incredible undertaking. It would require quite a bit of advanced work,” Haglund said.
Solena’s patented technology converts biomass in municipal waste into renewable synthesis gas, or “Bio-SynGas.”
The Dispatch reported in 2008 that Solena planned to operate the plant with Rentech, a coal-to-liquid production company that would take the synthetic gas and convert it into the renewable fuel with almost no harmful emissions.
As part of Solena’s “GreenSky California,” the project will divert approximately 550,000 metric tons of waste that otherwise would go to a landfill while producing jet fuel with lower emissions of greenhouse gases and local pollutants than petroleum-based fuels, according to the company.
Miller told the Dispatch in 2008 the plant could produce about 1,800 barrels of fuel per day.
