ROCKFORD — With the average price of gasoline at the pump flirting with $3 a gallon and world petroleum prices breaking records this week above $70 a barrel, a coalition of governments and businesses thinks the Rock River Valley could play a major role in breaking our global addiction to oil.

Today, two days before celebrations worldwide mark Earth Day, the group is scheduled to unveil a plan to build Freedom Field, a multimillion-dollar alternative energies research and demonstration center on the south side of the Chicago/Rockford International Airport.

The answer to oil addiction, this group says, lies in the development of alternative energies. And what better way for the region to gain a marquee role in this budding industry than to build a research center that will show what these green fuels are and how easy they are to produce.

Alternative energies expected to be in play at the center would include solar and wind technologies that produce hydrogen and electricity. Plans also include the use of biomass such as switch grass, ethanol and methane from a nearby landfill. The center is expected to open in spring 2008.

“This is leading edge,” Steven Moss, manager of business development for tactical systems at Hamilton Sundstrand’s Land Systems Enterprise, said Tuesday during a meeting with the Rockford Register Star’s Editorial Board. Moss and other members of the coalition spoke during the 90-minute session.

The coalition plans to announce that the second part of the first stage of the project is under way. This part of the project includes planning and creating a plan of action for Freedom Field’s development. Hamilton Sundstrand will be the initial consultant on this $150,000 planning phase that will look at the potential of the project and how proponents should move forward. The planning phase could take up to four months.

Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen said he expects to pay for $100,000 of the planning phase through new fees the county collects from the Winnebago Landfill. He said the project will be presented to County Board members in May.

The Greater Rockford Airport Authority expects to provide the other $50,000 from an earmark it recently received for the project from U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan.

“It does represent the best in all of us,” Christiansen said. “We literally could be going from the Rust Belt to a high-tech transition with this project.”

The first elements of Freedom Field, which has been in the works for three years, came together after the airport was recommended as a demonstration site for part of the “Hydrogen Highway” project that envisions the creation of a hydrogen infrastructure throughout the Upper Midwest to allow for more hydrogen-fueled vehicles. Hydrogen is essentially a clean energy source that is often derived from water.

Set aside as the airport worked to develop its passenger air service and as promoters worked to gain partners, the project, supporters say, will now move quickly with the construction of a 40,000-square-foot center and purchase of solar and wind turbine equipment within two years.

The coalition hopes to attract $3 million to $5 million in initial federal, state and private funding.

“The project is important because it is cutting-edge technology at a time when America needs solutions and because it represents a serious opportunity to sustain existing manufacturing and other like jobs that research or produce components for future manufacturing or technology applications,” Bob O’Brien, executive director of the airport, said in an e-mail.

The center will be on 10 acres of airport land between the runways on the south side of the airport across a field from Bell Bowl, a natural amphitheater home to numerous events during the Camp Grant era. Other plans call for building recreational fields that will be powered by the electricity generated by wind turbines and solar technology at the site.

Supporters say the center will focus on practical uses and that area governments and business fleet vehicles would likely use its hydrogen fueling station. Others see the job-creation potential as well as attracting academics and others interested in research.

“You will have all sorts of job opportunities putting this together, internship opportunities, and all sorts of supporting (job) opportunities,” said Bob Lindstrom, Rock Valley College’s regional energy program grant manager.

Staff writer Heath Hixson may be reached at 815-987-1343 or hhixson@rrstar.com.

Freedom Field participants

Chicago/Rockford International Airport

City of Rockford

City of Loves Park

Hamilton Sundstrand

Larson & Darby Group

Northern Illinois University

Rockford Park District

Rock Valley College

Rep. Don Manzullo

Village of Machesney Park

Winnebago County