Plans for a futuristic bio-energy plant that creates electricity from wood chips, turns sugar beets into an alternative fuel source and operates an organic greenhouse on a capped landfill were unveiled Monday night to the South Portland City Council.

Members of the fledgling Maine Renewable Energy Consortium (MREC) outlined for City Council members a preliminary proposal for developing a so-called bio-energy complex on land off Duck Pond Road, a dead-end street near the city’s old landfills. The land is off Main Street in Rumery Park, an industrial park. The site is off Dartmouth Street, which turns into Duck Pond Road

Councilors made no decision on the project, which is in early stages. But members asked questions on plant operations and listened attentively. “This will be a learning curve for all of us,” noted Councilor Linda Boudreau.

As the cost of oil rises, more than two dozen U.S. companies are in various stages of building plants that would use wood chips, garbage or crops to make motor fuels, according to a recent report in the New York Times.

At the City Council workshop Monday, consortium representatives said South Portland is an ideal site for their proposed bio-energy plant because rail lines, Portland Harbor and oil tank farms are nearby, easing costs for shipping and receiving products.

Led by local developer James Talbot, Maine Renewable Energy Consortium would build the $60 million project in three phases. The group told councilors it plans to:

• Develop a 4 mega-watt electrical plant in the first phase

of construction that would burn wood chips to produce steam and electricity, which would be sold to local businesses and the New England power grid. The facility would be housed in a

20,000-square-foot building and have an emissions stack that is 50-feet tall.

• Create a fermentation bio-reactor in a 40,000-square-foot building that would make butanol and acetone from sugar beets. The butanol could be used as a fuel additive or alternative. Initially, the butanol and acetone would be marketed for traditional uses as paint thinner, brake fluid and solvents.

Although making motor fuel from fermented sugar has been explored, there are no commercial-scale operations in the U.S. because of production costs. Talbot said the technology is improving to make the economics work.

• Use the carbon dioxide and distilled water created from the fermentation process to grow specialty crops or flowers in a commercial greenhouse, possibly located on top of the city’s old landfill, which has been capped and sealed.

“This is a completely bio-friendly production process” that sends the emissions back into the production process, noted David Martin, an engineering consultant with the project.

To sweeten the deal for the city, the consortium is proposing to build an east-west connector road by extending the privately owned Duck Pond Road. The road, which would be deeded to the city, would extend Duck Pond Road, now a cul-de-sac. The road would extend south across railroad tracks and then west to the former Wainwright Farm fields. The city then would connect the road to Highland Avenue. As it is, Duck Pond Road now links with Dartmouth Street, running through Rumery Park and intersecting with U.S. 1.

In exchange, the city would deed to the developer a land-locked parcel it owns next to the development site. Talbot said the city lot is needed because the development site contains a lot of wetlands, where construction is prohibited.

MREC also has expressed interest in 85 acres behind the former Wainwright farm, but Talbot said any development would likely be years away. The developments likely would be related to the bio-energy facility.

Talbot told the City Council that his group is looking at other Maine sites, as well. He said after the workshop that Maine Renewable Energy Consortium is also considering a site in Aroostook County.

He said the South Portland site is his group’s preference, because the “finished product” could be shipped by pipeline, tank truck or rail line. The plant also could receive shipments of wood chips by rail or by barge.

In addition to city approval, the project would require several state permits, including review by the Department of Environmental Protection. The group also would need utility and rail easements.

“We want to get this up and working and be the first in the country to do this,” said Talbot, referring to the sugar fermentation plant that would make butanol from sugar beets. “This would be a showpiece.”

Maine Renewable Energy Consortium has a purchase and sales agreement with 110 Dartmouth LLC for 18 acres off Duck Pond Road. Part of the land already has permits for industrial development. City tax records lists 110 Dartmouth’s mailing address as Sea Dog Ventures in Falmouth.

Talbot said his partners are Don Johnson of Portland, who owns Phoenix Welding, and Gordon Hurtubise of South Portland.

He said the University of Maine has shown interest in the project for the potential benefit to farmers who would grow sugar beets. Maine Renewable Energy Consortium also has had some early discussions with the Maine Small Business Development Center and the Maine Technology Institute.

The opportunity to use butanol as an alternative fuel source also is attracting attention from big companies, such as BP and Dow Chemical.

Talbot says he believes that his group has an advantage since it is proposing a smaller development that will grow in phases as the business becomes economically viable.

Although there are economic challenges to turning butanol into a fuel additive or alternative, Talbot said the product already has rich uses as a solvent, paint thinner and brake fluid.

Councilor Claude Morgan said the project intrigued him. But he also raised some concern about the production of acetone, which is flammable.

Both Boudreau and Councilor Maxine Beecher had questions about the emissions stack and whether odors would emanate from the plant.

Mayor Jim Soule said he would want to send a team of city leaders, including the fire chief – at the developer’s expense – to inspect a demonstration project for the fermentation plant. Talbot said he could not disclose at this stage the name of the company or plant location for proprietary reasons.

Councilor Tom Blake said it is “very hard to oppose any source of energy that reduces the carbon footprint and our dependence on oil.”

Blake said he also liked the idea of the connector road, using Duck Pond Road. “The cross-town connector road seems so natural.”

He also suggested that the City Council and Planning Board plan a site walk this summer to see the site firsthand. He further suggested that the new Energy and Recycling Committee also should study the project.