A California company says it's nearly ready to start construction on a plant east of Sparks that will convert municipal trash into ethanol, electricity and chemical products.
Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc. of Pleasanton said it expects to begin production at the plant in late 2012.
About 500 jobs will be created with the start of construction at the plant to be known as Sierra BioFuels. It will be in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center.
Permanent employment will be about 40, with wages averaging about $22.50 an hour, Fulcrum executives told state economic development officials in 2009.
Construction costs are estimated at $120 million.
Privately held Fulcrum BioEnergy said the plant has been selected to participate in a loan-guarantee program through the Department of Energy, and the company is negotiating the final terms of a financing agreement. Fulcrum executives to complete the financing during the first quarter of this year.
The company cleared a major hurdle with its announcement last week that it contracted with Waste Management of Nevada and Waste Connections of California Inc. to provide a stream of pre-sorted municipal waste as feedstock for the Sierra BioFuels plant.
The facility will convert the trash into 10.5 million gallons of ethanol, a transportation fuel, each year, along with electricity to run the plant's operation. The facility also will have the capability to produce propanol, which is used as an industrial solvent and as a chemical intermediary.
Fulcrum expects to sell the ethanol for use in northern Nevada.
Teams from the engineering firm Fluor Corp. of Irving, Texas, began work on plans for the facility during 2010.
E. James Macias, president and chief executive officer of Fulcrum, said the 15-year contract with Waste Management of Nevada sets the stage for expansion of the plant.
And Greg Martinelli of Waste Management said the contract will divert trash from landfills and put it to use.
While the companies' didn't provide details of their contracts last week, Fulcrum executives said earlier that production of 10.5 million gallons of ethanol would require about 90,000 tons of solid waste annually.
Fulcrum's contract with Waste Connections, meanwhile, will provide pre-sorted municipal trash from California cities as a feedstock for the plant.
The facility is expected to be the first commercial-sized operation in the nation to convert solid waste into ethanol, although Fulcrum has several similar projects under development elsewhere in the United States.
It's backed by the Southern California venture capital firm Rustic Canyon Partners and the private equity firm U.S. Renewables Group.
Ultimately, the company says it may produce as much as 1 billion gallons of ethanol a year from municipal trash.
It has won the necessary permits for the plant at Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center from the Storey County government.
