Better BTU Project Update: Dynamis Energy

No one ever said that breaking into the renewable energy industry was easy and Dynamis Energy has faced obstacles on several fronts in the last month.

We first reported on the Eagle, Idaho company in a Mar. 29, 2012 entry entitled Dynamis Energy: Oh The Places You'll Go. We discussed the company’s strategy of partnering with local firms on several continents to find projects. We examined projects in the various stages of proposal in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Italy and South America.

Politics have been heating up in Ada County, Idaho as the proposed project at the county-owned Hidden Hollow landfill moves closer to construction. Ada County agreed to lease the land to Dynamis in 2010 for $1/year for 20 years in return for the company building and operating a gasification facility that would generate 20 MW of electricity. Idaho Power has signed a purchase power agreement.

Residents of Hidden Springs listen to Dynamis Energy at
the public forum on Apr. 26. Courtesy: Idaho Statesman.

Dynamis filed for an air permit on Apr. 25^th to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. The DEQ has 90 days to respond, but as several of us in the industry know, that timeline can be stretched since the clock doesn’t start until the DEQ deems the application “complete.”

In the meantime, public forums have been held at Hidden Springs (Apr. 26) and Rivergien Junior High (May 3) where several critics have voiced outrage at the county’s $2 million investment in the project. Ada County paid the fee for project designs in effort to jumpstart the project. County Commissioner Sharon Ullman defends the decision by explaining that Dynamis will not be granted a building permit until it has repaid the money. She assures skeptics that there are other provisions in place in case the project falls through.

But the controversy of the project has become a central issue in the primary race for two commissioner seats. Of the five candidates running, two are opposed to the project and a change in government leadership could spell trouble for Dynamis. Additionally, the company is in a race against the clock as it must by operating by Dec. 31, 2013 in order to qualify for a federal grant that will cover up to 30% of the cost. The facility must be supplying power by Feb. 14, 2014 in order to satisfy the agreement with Idaho Power. Dynamis CEO C. Lloyd Mahaffey says that the plant will take 15 months to build and construction will start in July.

To complicate matters, several Dynamis executives have had personal financial and legal problems hit the press in the last month. The Idaho Statesman reported that Mahaffey and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development John A. Johnston owe almost $400,000 in back property taxes for 124 parcels of land in their Eagle Springs/Southfork Landing development located in Garden Valley. The pair have until July 23^rd to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, Senior Vice President of Legal and Finance Wade Devin Thomas currently has a federal tax lien of $318,370.10 that was filed in January 2011 for four years of IRS assessments. Additionally, he has a $5,679.99 state tax lien for unpaid 2009 taxes that was filed in Nov. 2010.

The most recent blow to Dynamis came last Thursday when Judy Shelton of Synergy Renewables announced that the company had legally dissolved its cooperative agreement with Dynamis last month. Dynamis had signed the agreement with Synergy and Primoris Renewables to build two waste-to-energy facilities in Puerto Rico. Primoris CFO Peter J. Moerbeek confirmed that the agreement had been dissolved but no one has offered an explanation why.

BETTER BTU TAKE: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the gasification industry. The company appears to still be on track for its facility in Ada County despite obvious concerns by citizens. It’s pretty unusual to see a municipality invest in a technology and its received lots of criticism by some residents for it. Based on the website and reported conversations from Idaho Statesman writer Cynthia Sewell, the company isn’t concerned with its public image and that may be a mistake. Executives obviously haven’t made friends with the reporter and depending on the outcome of the election, things could only get harder. Thomas is right when he says that his personal financial welfare doesn’t affect the company, but it doesn’t look great when three of your top executives owe the government large sums of back taxes…especially when you are trying to convince financers to write large checks. We’ll be interested to see how things progress.

For More Information:

Hidden Springs Residents Want to Know More About Waste-to-Energy Plant, The Idaho Statesman, 4/19/2012

County Candidates, Critics Take On Ada County Garbage-to-Gas Plan, The Idaho Statesman, 5/3/2012

Eagle Company No Longer Part of Puerto Rico Waste-to-Energy Project, The Idaho Statesman, 5/12/2012

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)

Dynamis Energy:Oh the Places You'll Go (Mar. 29, 2012)