Study: Green energy parks could emerge here

 Either Okaloosa, Walton or Santa Rosa County could see a 1,000-acre development known as a Green Energy Business Park taking shape by the start of the next decade if a study released Tuesday by Florida’s Great Northwest proves accurate.

“We believe Northwest Florida has an opportunity to become a leader in the renewable energy and fuels industry,” Fred Leopold, board chairman of Florida’s Great Northwest, stated in a press release.

Boston-based SJH and Co. presented the results from a study that began last August delivered at a meeting of Florida’s Great Northwest renewable energy council.

SJH’s long-term recommendation is to pursue the development of the biofuels industry as conversion technology is developed and distribution systems become more refined and economical. The report concludes that the 16-county Northwest Florida region could most likely sup-port three to four Green Energy Business Parks.

“We don’t know the specific size, but the model would be 1,000 acres,” said Sonya Negley, business and community development manager for Florida’s Great Northwest.

The Green Park concept would use a mixed recipe of native-grown, renewable feedstocks such as timber biomass, along with municipal solid waste in combination with food waste to maximize BTU values.

Developed and run by private industry, such a park would act as a central feed-stock collection and staging area. It would house various alternative energy companies and other related businesses. It also would serve as a platform for the development of future advanced technologies as well as a magnet to attract new businesses in the renewable energy and fuels industry.

And where would those Green Parks be located?

“It all depends on infrastructure, location and available acreage, whether or not it’s an existing park, and proximity to existing power companies,” Negley said. “We’re looking at probably three years before we could start building the first park.”

Almost $50,000 of this $900,000 study was funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Grant. A second study, which would determine how much timber was available on private land, has yet to be commissioned.