ST. THOMAS - The Public Services Commission heard a proposal Thursday from a partnership looking to build four 30-megawatt power plants in the territory.

Georgia-based BioMass Gas and Electric and St. Croix-based Antilles Energy Cooperative Inc. told commissioners their renewable energy plants would provide a cleaner and cheaper source of power for the Virgin Islands.

The companies appeared at the PSC's monthly meeting seeking certification as a small power provider.

The companies are among several currently vying to contract with the V.I. Water and Power Authority to provide additional power, and with recent legislation mandating that WAPA reach a deal with a PSC-approved company by Sept. 30, the race is on.

Frank Wilborne, president of Antilles Energy Cooperative Inc., told the PSC the plan is a "bold initiative" that will stop the territory's high utility rates from eroding Virgin Islanders disposable income.

Under V.I. law, the PSC must approve any power provider before it can produce or sell power within the territory.

The company's plans include building power facilities - two on St. Thomas and two on St. Croix - that would then sell electricity to WAPA.

The plants would generate power through a gasification process that converts wood waste, agriculture byproducts, and municipal solid waste into energy.

Wilborne said the technology consumes resources that would normally be discarded into landfills and that carbon dioxide emissions from the plants would be 90 percent lower than plants using fossil fuels.

Each facility would cost $126 million to build and construction of each could take nearly two years.

Wilborne said the partnership would finance the project through federal tax credits available for renewable energy programs, private investors, and private activity bonds.

The patented gasification process technology was developed at the Batelle labs in Columbus, Ohio, with approximately $20 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, according to BioMass Gas and Electric's Web site.

Glenn Farris, chief executive officer of BioMass Gas and Electric, said at Thursday's meeting he was part of a private-public project - with the Department of Energy and National Renewable Energy Laboratory - that opened a similar 30-megawatt gasification facility at the McNeil Generating Facility in Burlington, Vt., in the late 1990s.

WAPA Executive Director Alberto Bruno-Vega asked Farris what would the utility be doing if the company was allowed to produce so much power.

Farris said, "You would be the backup."

The PSC has scheduled another public hearing for Wednesday to further address the request.

There are currently three qualified small power providers in the territory: Caribbean Energy Resources Corp., Renaissance Group, and Caribe Waste Technologies.

Miami-based Caribbean Energy Resources Corp., has proposed building a $179 million facility on St. Croix that it says would create 700 jobs.

The plant Caribbean Energy has proposed to build would burn petroleum coke - a byproduct of the HOVENSA oil refinery - to produce power. The ash byproduct from the process would be used to manufacture building material called gypsum board.

Renaissance Group wants to use the coal-burning power generator at its facility at the old alumina plant on St. Croix's south shore to provide extra electricity for the island.

Caribe Waste Technologies wants to build a $180 million waste-to-energy plant that uses a gasification process. The plant would take all the territory's garbage, burn it and use the resulting gas to fuel generators that produce electricity and desalinated water.

The clock is ticking for the qualified companies because recent legislation mandates the utility to negotiate a deal by Sept. 30.

The power producer bill was vetoed by Gov. Charles Turnbull in May, but the Senate overrode that veto last month by a 10-5 vote.

The measure also requires the small power producers meet a stringent set of criteria.

Those criteria require the company to commit in writing to invest $150 million in St. Croix within a four-year period.

The small power producer would also be required to hire no fewer than 400 workers, 90 percent of whom must be V.I. residents.

- Contact Tim Fields at 774-8772 ext. 364 or e-mail tfields@dailynews.vi.