Dynamis Energy: Oh The Places You’ll Go

For most companies, securing the first commercial contract can be a long and tedious process. It can take years to refine the technology, find a way to lower production costs and find the right client. While Dynamis Energy hasn’t yet crossed the finish line with a completed commercial project, its making moves on several continents.

Dynamis Energy is the creator of the 3.0 Waste-to-Energy Technology, a waste-to-energy system that is similar in some regards to the TOS Plant that has been operating in Barrow, Alaska since 1996. The Eagle, Idaho company’s simple design makes it easy to operate and relatively low-cost; something investors can get on board with.

In the last two years, Dynamis has announced plans to build several facilities on three different continents. The first, and most promising, projects began in its home state of Idaho. Hired by Ada County in June 2010, Dynamis signed on to build a facility at the Hidden Hollow Landfill in Boise. The company will lease the landfill for $1/year for 20 years and build a facility that will process 250 tons of solid waste per day in exchange. On Feb. 24, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission announced that it had approved the rate contract and that Idaho Power will sign a 20-year sales agreement. Operation is currently set to begin on Feb. 14, 2014.

Dynamis Energy's 3.0 Waste-to-Energy Technology

Eight months later, Clark County followed suit. After establishing the Eastern Idaho Regional Solid Waste District and completing a feasibility study, the county hired Dynamis to build 120,000 ton per year facility that will generate 13.5 MW of electricity. Rocky Mountain Power will purchase the power from Dynamis. The plant will be built in the Centennial Energy Park located East of Dubois. Construction will begin this summer and hopes to be finished within 15 months.

In February, Dynamis received good news on a project it has in the words in Puerto Rico. Dallas-based contractors Primoris Renewables announced it signed a $40 million contract to build two waste-to-energy facilties, working alongside Synergy Renewables and Dynamis. The plants will each process 180,000 tons annually to produce 10 MW of power.

In June 2011, the Idaho company announced it had entered a joint venture with All Way for the construction and management of a facility that will be integrated with an existing waste management plant in Lombardo, Italy. Permits have already been secured and construction was scheduled to start in late 2011, although we haven’t been able to find confirmation that it has started. The facility is currently scheduled to go online in fall 2012.

As if it wasn’t busy enough, Dynamis Energy announced in October 2011 that it was partnering with Planova, a Sao Paulo-based development firm, to pursue opportunities in South America. The pair will focus primarily on possibilities in Argentina, Brazil and Peru.

Better BTU Take: This company is on the move! We love that Dynamis is partnering with local firms to tap into foreign markets. It should keep the small company from becoming overextended. The question will be how many of these projects come to fruition – the announcement to completion ratio isn’t favorable and the more public projects that fail to cross the finish line, the harder it is for our industry to convince others of its legitimacy. Still, the projects seem headed in the right direction and the one in Boise has sparked interest for other counties in Idaho and Wyoming. This is a difficult company to keep up with due to the fact that their website is tragically out of date, but we’ll do our best to bring you the updates here!

Idaho Public Utilities Commission Press Release (Feb. 24, 2012) - PUC Approves Idaho Power Contract with Landfill Waste-to-Energy Project

Waste Management World (Feb. 1, 2012) - $40 Million Waste to Energy Gasificaation Contract for Dallas Firm

Dynamis Press Release (Nov. 11, 2011) - Dynamis Energy and Planova Sign Agreement to Construct Waste-to-Energy Plants in Brazil

Dynamis Press Release (June 9, 2011) - Dynamis Energy and All Way Sign Agreement to Construct Waste-to-Energy Plant in Lombardy, Italy

Waste Management World (Feb. 18, 2011) - 120,000 Ton Waste to Energy Gasification Facility Planned in Eastern Idaho

Other Better BTU Blog Posts on Dynamis: 

Project Update: Local Energy Company Becomes Latest Stumbling Block for Dynamis (July 31, 2012)

Project Update: Turning Up the Heat in Ada County (June 21, 2012)

Better BTU Project Update: Dynamis Energy (May 14, 2012)

Another One Bites The Dust…Or Does It?

We’ve seen it happen time and time again. A municipality or public institution announces its plans to build a waste-to-energy plant and environmental groups and opponents wreak havoc in order to block it. Historically, these tactics have been successful, especially when targeting public entities. But maybe not in Cleveland.

Days after the U.S. Environmental Agency sent a letter criticizing the city’s standards and urging the Ohio EPA to review the project, the city has amended its design and plans to resubmit for an air permit. This comes as a surprise to many who had thought the final nail on the coffin had been put in place.

A map shows where the proposed gasification plant at the
Ridge Road Transfer Station. (Courtesy: Google Maps)

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson announced plans for a $180 million gasification plant at the Ridge Road Transfer Station in early 2010. The idea is that the facility would produce power that would be sold to Cleveland Public Power. Before Jackson had even finished his speech, opponents of the project set to work to kill it.

The city sends approximately 60 truckloads of waste to landfills daily, trucking it to Mansfield for a price tag of $9 million each year. Jackson and his cohorts aim to reduce that number by a third and have set an additional goal of having Cleveland Public Power be 25% dependent on alternative energy sources by 2025.

The proposed gasification plant would be built by Princeton Environmental Group of New Jersey and use technology from Kinsei Sangyo, Co. in Japan. Cleveland’s facility would process about 560 tons of trash per day to produce 15 MW of power.

City Councilman Brian Cummins has tried to block the
gasification plant from moving forward. 

City Councilman Brian Cummins had led the charge for killing the waste-to-energy project. Cummins and critics from the Ohio Citizen Action and the Earth Day Coalition cite many concerns including the possibility of toxins like lead and mercury to be emitted through its exhaust, the inherit risk in a new technology and the cost. They propose trying to bolster the city’s lagging recycling rate (Cummins says the rate is only 5% while the city cites 11%) and exploring composting and anaerobic projects.

Regardless of what the actual recycling rate in Cleveland is, efforts have been made to increase recycling over the past three years and the city insists that it would continue to promote the practice. Research shows that recycling actually INCREASES in areas with waste-to-energy facilities, in part because metals and glass are automatically pulled out of the feedstock before it is processed.

As for the question about mercury and lead, Cleveland Chief of Communications Maureen Harper assures us that that the plant doesn’t create these elements and so they will not be emitted if they don’t go into the gasification process.

Additionally, the city funded a composting project in June and July 2010 where 15 tons of compostable materials were diverted from the landfill. Pulling organic material for composting isn’t always economically feasible and it doesn’t do any harm to the environment or the wallet it to send it through the gasifier.

The city’s modifications in an attempt to meet the EPA standard include raising the smokestack from 175 feet to 200 feet, which would spread the material over a wider area.

Better BTU Take: It’s still a toss up whether or not this project will make it to fruition, especially with the dedicated group of naysayers working to stop it. For our sake, we hope it does and we’ll keep our eyes on it.

For more information on this project:

Cleveland's Proposed WTE Plant Back on Track? - Waste & Recycling News (Feb. 24, 2012)

City of Cleveland Hopes to Spin Garbage Into Profits with New Waste-to-Energy Plant - The Cleveland Plain Dealer (May 7, 2011)

City of Cleveland's Office of Sustainability - Recycling and Waste Reduction

Study Showing How Recycling Increases in Areas with WTE Plants:

Recycling and WTE Compatibility by Jonathan Kiser

Various articles by Dr. Nick J. Themelis, Columbia University