Silver Bay moving forward with Eco Industrial Business Park

The City of Silver Bay wants to forge new ground on the North Shore.  They have an ambitious plan to transform the city’s existing business park from run-of-the-mill to state-of-the-art.

“It’s a project to essentially take what is now the current business park and transform it into an eco park, by way of industrial clustering. And through renewable energy, take the park and its heat and power needs off the grid.”

That’s Bruce Carman.  He’s the project coordinator working with the City of Silver Bay to develop what they’re calling an Eco-Industrial Business Park.  The bold project features a biomass-fueled combined heat and power plant, a wood pellet production plant, greenhouses producing fresh vegetables and fish for local consumption, and clusters of related businesses.

“Essentially the idea and the concepts were introduced to us by Tim Nolan, who directs sustainable industrial development for the MPCA," says Carman.  "He and I worked together on the grant, the initial grant, to make it adaptable to the City of Silver Bay and to make it, let’s say, cost effective using the natural resources that exist around Silver Bay.” 

The park would be energy self-sufficient, using heat and power generated from a city-owned biomass energy plant.

“The means to heat and power through renewable energy, locally produced renewable energy, provides a more stable environment in that you can predict an energy cost to a specific business.  That has an immediate bottom line effect in terms of increased profit.  So if you take today’s current issues over in the Middle East where oil has just jumped up to $100 a barrel, you’re looking at increased cost to businesses.  Should those businesses be located in the eco-park and their heat and power comes off of biomass, they’re not looking at that unstable environment for energy costs.  So it produces an economic development tool to bring in businesses.”

There are also plans for greenhouses producing fresh vegetables, fish, and algae for biodiesal production.

“We’re looking at trying to start construction of the first greenhouse in June of this year," says Carman.  “The city will probably own the first greenhouse.  It is approximately about an 8,000 square foot facility.  It will have a harvest cycle of approximately 6 weeks.  So every six weeks we’d be able to harvest the fish for local food consumption; for the schools, assisted living centers, hospitals."

"It’s essentially designed or conceived around the flow of water," says Carman.  "Initially the water starts in the fish tanks.  And that water becomes nutrient enriched through the waste produced by the fish.  That water then goes from the fish tanks to some hydroponic troughs where we would be looking at growing lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, and in those troughs, that water is absorbed by the roots of the plants to grow the plants, essentially 100 percent organically.  And at the same time that water is cleaned by those nutrients from the fish waste being removed from the water.  The system within the greenhouse is 100 percent closed.  There are very little wastes that actually leave the greenhouse and essentially the water that starts in the fish house can remain there for years and years.  The design team that looked at doing that went to a facility in Alberta, Canada, and they have had water in their tanks for 7 or 8 years.  It just basically demonstrates the sustainability and the whole ideology of the eco park itself.”

The anchor of the park is the biomass heat and power facility, owned by the City of Silver Bay.  But for the city to own a public utility, the citizens must approve it, and there’s a vote coming up May 10th.  The city held an informational meeting Wednesday, March 23, attended by 30 to 40 people.  Another meeting is scheduled for April 19th.

More information is available from the City of Silver Bay at 218-226-4408, or online at www.silverbay.com.