Green Horizons

One of two mills that will produce four tons of pellets each hour from crop and grass residues. Kansas City Power and Light will co-fire these pellets with coal to help reduce the power plant’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Various communities in Missouri are beginning to explore wood-to-energy projects. While wood chips will play a small part in Show Me Energy’s cellulosic energy game plan, the company’s holistic, community- and producer-based strategy serves as a good model for forest-based energy projects.

Show Me Energy Cooperative began as little more than an idea in the mind of Steve Flick. As a seed company owner, (Flick Seed of Kingsville, Mo.) Steve was concerned about the amount of grass seed hulls he was forced to dispose of on an annual basis.

In his case, disposal meant burying, burning, adding them to a sanitary dump site, or simply distributing them over a landscaped area. Each solution had its particular costs and negative aspects. Steve began to wonder if there might not be a better solution that would actually turn his "residue" into some sort of viable product.

Steve’s vision was to establish an innovative and profitable model for production of biomass-based fuels which could be replicated across the country by small producer- owned cooperatives. These co-ops would provide a positive economic impact on the regions where they were located.

Show Me Energy is developing its Centerview, Mo., site in three phases.

The first phase, which is nearing completion, will convert cornstalks, grass straw, wheat and oat straw, milo stubble and soybean stubble into pellets. These pellets will then be sold to Kansas City Power and Light where they will be co-fired with their current feedstock of coal for the production of electricity. It’s a win-win situation for both groups. Kansas City Power and Light earns Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from the EPA for burning a renewable resource and Show Me Energy has a ready buyer for its pellets.

Phase Two will be a gasifier to convert cellulose into ethanol. A European modulated cellulosic fuel model, the plant will generate roughly six to eight million gallons of ethanol per year. "It is small, but we can grow with it." The gasifier model is more versatile because it allows for more source variety. "We can take in 17 different kinds of input," Flick says. "We are not just married to a grain-based system."

The final phase will be producing electricity from by-products of the gasification process. "What we will do is take the hydrogen by-products and scrub it, pressurize it and generate about 12 megawatts of electricity; enough to run the plant and sell the excess," he adds. Utility plants have expressed interest in purchasing the green energy.

Co-op members lie within a 22-county area that includes Show Me Energy’s home county of Jackson. Wanting to appeal to the average farmer, the group had a modest entry fee. Membership requirements were $2,500 per share with a two-share minimum. Much like grain ethanol plants, members have the right to sell the product to the plant. He says what "sold the cooperative" was the project brought small farmers and large farmers together in unified effort. "We made it so everybody could be involved."

Every dollar invested equates to five pounds of biomass. So, a producer who invests $5,000 has the right to sell 25,000 pounds of biomass or 25 big round bales of biomass to the plant.

Because biomass content varies, the co-op came up with three criteria for purchasing. "We buy based on moisture, Btu, and weight," Flick explains. "That is the fairest way."

"There is a tidal wave coming to this country," Flick says. "It is going to hit us so fast, and we need to be ready." He says the revolution coming to rural communities across the country will change today’s farming dynamics.

"They are now going to be farming for fuel benefits." "If we can do it in the middle of the country, there is no reason why other communities throughout this country could not do it based on this model," he adds.

"They are now going to be farming for fuel benefits." "If we can do it in the middle of the country, there is no reason why other communities throughout this country could not do it based on this model," he adds.

Show Me Energy’s motto, "Creating Energy Today for America’s Tomorrows," says it all.