DAYTON — Burning biofuels, and even paper and plastic bags, is a promising prospect for Dayton Power and Light Co. as it moves to comply with a state mandate to increase power generation from alternative sources, DP&L officials said Wednesday, April 28.

The utility has mixed into its coal fuel up to a 5 percent blend of biofuel pellets of sawdust, switch grass and the miscanthus plant for burning at its Killen power generating plant along the Ohio River, officials of DP&L and its parent company, DPL Inc., said in interviews during the company’s annual meeting of shareholders. That coal-biofuel blend may be increased to a content of 8 percent biofuel if state regulators approve, as the utility does tests to see whether the blend is compatible with boilers at its plants, said Paul Barbas, president and chief executive officer.

“Biofuel is probably going to be one of the most economical renewable technologies for our customers,” Barbas said.

In addition, DP&L is getting set to test-burn a biofuels blend at its coal-fired Hutchings plant in Miamisburg, where it has already experimented with mixing paper and plastic bags into the mix of fuel burned for power generation, spokeswoman Lesley Sprigg said.

DP&L officials are hoping that biofuels can be burned in existing power plants, without having to modify the facilities. Biofuels can be purchased locally and support local jobs, Barbas said.

DP&L and other Ohio utilities, according to Ohio law, must generate 12.5 percent of their power from renewable resources by 2025.

DP&L is producing power from a new solar energy array at its Yankee substation in Washington Twp. and is constructing a second, smaller solar power array at the Mound Advanced Technology Center in Miamisburg.

The company is monitoring proposals to develop wind power generating facilities in Ohio and deciding whether they could be reliable power generators and would warrant investment from DP&L, said Art Meyer, a DPL senior vice president.

Shareholders on Wednesday followed the board of directors’ recommendation and re-elected three directors to three-year terms that will expire in 2013. They are: Robert Biggs, retired managing partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Pamela B. Morris, president and CEO of CareSource, and Ned J. Sifferlen, retired president of Sinclair Community College.