Florida company developing hybrid electricity plant

A St. Augustine, Fla., company plans to help utilities use more renewable energy at a cheaper cost by using a hybrid electric generation plant.

NTE Energy LLC and its partners plan to build and run a natural gas-fired power plant that will also be partially powered by renewable energy sources biogas, biomass or solar thermal.

Twenty percent of the hybrid plant’s generated energy could come from renewable sources, while costing up to 20 percent more than electricity produced by a natural gas plant, said Seth Shortlidge, the company president and CEO. By itself, renewable energy generation can cost up to twice as much as electricity created through a natural gas plant.

Burning natural gas emits about half as much carbon dioxide as coal, and the U.S. has rich deposits, making it attractive to the industry and investors. Considering the high costs of renewable energy, many energy analysts say natural gas will be the nation’s bridge to a more sustainable future.

“We are creating a bridge that goes the whole way across,” said Shortlidge, formerly CEO and president of Tamarack Energy, a now-defunct Boston-based renewable energy company.

Read the full story in the Jacksonville Business Journal.