DES MOINES -- The Iowa Power Fund Board gave preliminary backing Wednesday to two area alternative energy projects: A University of Northern Iowa-based project to study prairie plants' energy potential and an Osage company's request for state assistance to purchase mobile biomass briquette machines.

Both projects will be evaluated by another Power Fund panel to study the scientific merits of the programs, along with the cost and type of financial backing.

The UNI project, from the school's Tallgrass Prairie Center, would fund research into what types of prairie plants can be burned efficiently to substitute or supplement coal burning, said Daryl Smith, the center's director.

The Iowa Power Fund, the brainchild of Gov. Chet Culver, is charged with allocating grants and loans for commercial, research and educational endeavors which will advance renewable energy and energy independence projects. Iowa legislators have allocated about $25 million to pay for Power Fund activities and energy products this year. They're expected to chip in another $25 million for the board to spend by July 1, 2009.

The board, which began accepting funding requests at the start of the year, has received 108 such applications requesting a sum of $241 million, said Roya Stanley, the director of the Iowa Office of Energy Independence that serves as the umbrella department for the Power Fund.

The UNI project's coordinators requested $612,300 in taxpayer money to study four types of prairie species blends. Smith said he believes long-term, the plants can be used to as a green alternative to greenhouse gas-producing coal.

Under the proposal, prairie plants will be grown, harvested, shaped into cubes and sent to Cedar Falls Utilities to be burned to generate energy, Daryl Smith said.

"We're never going to replace coal, but we're going to supplement the use of coal," Daryl Smith said.

Prairie plants are a promising source of energy because they require no fertilizer, prevent soil erosion, and require minimal financial commitments, Daryl Smith said.

Board members agreed the idea sounded promising.

"I'm thinking about quitting my job and signing on as research associate," Power Fund Board member Richard Leopold said.

Osage-based RENEW Energy Systems also got a tentative thumbs up from board members on the company's request for $655,000 request in state funds to purchase two mobile briquette presses and a feedstock dryer.

The equipment would be used to convert biomass -- including wood, cardboard, sunflower shells, switch grass, straw and even manure -- into burnable, energy-producing blocks, CEO Stephan Smith said. A mobile press would enable RENEW Energy Systems to compress biomass materials on-site, instead of having to trudge the substances around the state, burning energy in the process, Stephan Smith said.

"Demand is established," Stephan Smith said. "Utilities are looking for biomass to use as technology improves."

The company has secured some federal funding and would combine taxpayer funds with loan money, Stephan Smith said. But some board members said they were hesitant to give state money, which would directly impact a single company's profits, without more scientific evidence demonstrating the project's environmental benefits.

Members will continue to look at the proposal and could ultimately decide to give the company a loan, rather than a grant. They also encouraged company executives to look at additional state or federal funding programs for financial assistance.

But Power Fund Board members voted to advance the plan so they can study its potential impact further.

"I think biomass is one of our biggest potentials in the state, and I think we need to move biomass forward," board member Thomas Wind said.

Contact Whitney Woodward

at (515) 243-0138 or

whitney.woodward@lee.net.