Apr. 19--The site of a 1940s-era power plant that once burned oil to generate electricity may soon be home to a new generation of power turbines fueled by refined animal fat and vegetable oil.

Spring-based Biofuels Power Corp. bought the 79-acre site from NRG Energy recently and plans to move an existing 9-megawatt generator that runs on refined waste vegetable oils to the site later this year. A 100 megawatt natural gas turbine will also be part of the project, and by 2010 the Houston Clean Energy Park could be home to as much as 50 megawatts of generation capacity coming from a variety of fuels made by refining animal and vegetable products, called biodiesel. One megawatt can power up to 800 homes.

"Long term, we want this to be a clean energy industrial park that will use biofuels, biomass, natural gas and even solar energy to generate electricity," said Fred O'Connor, president and CEO of Biofuels.

The most important feature of the site is its access to the local power grid. It sits next to a switching station that can handle up to 500 megawatts, which means getting the power to market would be relatively easy, said O'Connor.

The company would operate as an independent power producer, selling electricity onto the grid first as a "peaker," meaning it comes on during times of peak demand when the prices are high. Eventually Biofuels Power will try to operate on a more regular basis.

"It largely depends on the cost of the feedstock for the fuels," O'Connor said.

The company also hopes to have an on-site training center where it will teach workers how to build and operate such power plants.

Interest in fuels made from vegetable waste and animal fats has grown in recent years, thanks to the Energy Act of 2005 -- which requires cleaner-burning blends of diesel -- the steep climb in oil prices and growing anxiety over the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

Biofuels officials acknowledge that such fuel sources won't be able to eliminate the need for energy imports completely. Rather, they can provide alternatives at the margin that can have a moderating impact on fuel costs and, ultimately, electric power costs.

The University of Minnesota estimates that the country produces about 2.7 billion pounds of yellow and brown grease per year, byproducts of restaurant fry cookers and industrial processes that could be converted to about 350 million gallons of biodiesel. The 11 billion pounds of lard, tallow and poultry fats the country produces might be good for 1 billion gallons more.

But U.S.