By Kevin Reagan | Casa Grande Dispatch
City officials are considering an agreement with a new greenhouse facility that could potentially help reduce the city’s energy costs.
nFLux, based in Phoenix, has been meeting with city officials over the past year on a project it wants to develop in Casa Grande. The company has proposed constructing an energy-production facility that would generate electricity by using natural gas.
nFlux plans to develop 300 acres near Rodeo and Burris roads, on the northwest side, into greenhouses that would produce tomato crops. According to an information graphic nFlux submitted to the city, natural gas from a pipeline would be processed and converted into electricity, heat and carbon dioxide that would be piped into its greenhouses to enhance plant growth.
This would be a truly unique project on many levels. While the technology sounds very interesting and novel, the regulatory issues are even more unique and challenging. If they are able to overcome the significant regulatory hurdles, it could be a model for future competitive supply of power at low prices to communities around Arizona.
“They can get there, but it will take work“ said Court Rich, director of Rose Law Group’s Renewable Energy Department and an attorney who has worked on numerous groundbreaking regulatory issues in Arizona related to energy generation and use.
