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EcoEngineers Launches New RIN Service

Joanna Schroeder

A new Renewable Identification Number (RIN) pricing service has been launched by EcoEngineers Indexing Services LLC.  According to the company, the daily index is based on continuously updated pricing data submitted by biofuels brokers, marketers, obligated parties, and producers.  The company already offers third-party data verification and distribution and this new service expands their business into pricing data.

“Our existing relationships in the marketplace have resulted in a robust sourcing of data for the compilation of the daily index,” said Shashi Menon, Managing Partner of EcoEngineers.  “RINS are a critical component of biofuel economics.  A reliable RIN index will lead to the eventual formation of a RINSWAP and allow industry to freely enter into over-the-counter swap transactions against the Eco indices.”

In a statement, EcoEngineers said it has compiled historical RIN data back to July 2010. As a result, they are able to provide comprehensive reports on historical price movements as well as daily and monthly averages.

In addition, the company said it is in discussions with the CME group to clear it indices. Menon said of the talks, “Being able to clear the Eco indices will allow the market to operate in an environment where counter party credit risk is virtually eliminated, and we are excited to move forward with this initiative.”

Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol

Biodiesel Industry Urges Renewal of Tax Incentive

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) called on Congress this week to reinstate the biodiesel tax incentive “to avoid further disruption to an emerging American industry that is creating jobs across the country while diversifying U.S. energy supplies.”

In written testimony submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures for a hearing on expiring tax provisions, NBB Vice President Anne Steckel emphasized that the biodiesel industry achieved record production of nearly 1.1 billion gallons last year before the $1-per-gallon tax incentive expired on Dec. 31. She urged lawmakers to pass an extension as quickly as possible to prevent a drop in production and potential layoffs.

“This is a bipartisan tax provision that is a proven job-creator and has strong support in Congress,” Steckel said. “With petroleum prices where they are now, we shouldn’t need any reminders about how important it is to continue developing new American energy sources.”

Biodiesel, Government, NBB

Advanced Biofuels Moved From “Beaker to Barrel”

Cindy Zimmerman

The head of the Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA) told a House subcommittee this week that America’s domestic advanced biofuels industry has “moved from the beaker to the barrel, all in record time.”

AFBA president Michael McAdams testified before the U.S. House Small Business Committee’s Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade on Thursday, sharing some of the advance biofuels success stories which have occurred over the last year.

“The Air Force has flown the F-16/Thunderbirds on a mixture of advanced biofuels, the navy has tested advanced biofuels in ships and vehicles, and the commercial sector has flown the first cross country flight on a blend of renewable jet fuel,” McAdams said. “We have one member, Dynamic Fuels, producing a million gallons of renewable jet and renewable diesel a week, and have five members who have gone public. In addition, two Colorado member companies are preparing to deploy their innovative technologies in the near term.”

“Gevo, which will produce an isobutanol, a drop in, fungible fuel, will commission its 18 million gallon plant in June of this year in Luverne, Minnesota. While Sundrop Fuels is on target to break ground to build a 50 million gallon cellulosic gasoline plant in Louisiana this year,” he added.

McAdams says the single most important policy issue for advanced biofuels is the Renewable Fuels Standard, so it is “fundamentally important that the Congress continue to send a strong bipartisan signal of support for this policy if we wish to continue the remarkable progress and grow an advanced biofuels industry.”

advanced biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government

Novozymes Partners with Chinese Firm for Cellulosic Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

NovozymesNovozymes has announced a partnership with Shengquan Group, a Shandong-based company specializing in furan resin and polymers, to start commercial-scale production of cellulosic ethanol for solvents in June 2012 using Novozymes’ technology.

“Shengquan is a global first mover in this industry, which is on the verge of materializing right now,” says Poul Ruben Andersen, Vice President for Bioenergy at Novozymes. “Shengquan has profound experience in chemical production and is a leading company in commercializing cellulosic ethanol. Novozymes is proud to join Shengquan in nurturing a green and circular bioeconomy which lessens the dependence on fossil fuel resources.”

Shengquan is a leading producer of furfural using xylose in corncobs, a monomer for resin production in the foundry industry. Using Novozymes enzymes, Shengquan will now convert corncob residues from furfural production into fermentable sugars and then into ethanol for solvents and other purposes. Shengquan’s cost model shows that its current production cost of cellulosic ethanol is cost-competitive with conventional ethanol as the feedstock is a by-product of their current production.

Novozymes is a leading enzymatic solution provider in bioenergy. It partners with leading producers of cellulosic ethanol all over the world to commercialize this new technology.

advanced biofuels, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News

PV Solar Systems for Flat Roofs

Joanna Schroeder

Conergy Canada has released it new aerodynamic mounting system for weight limited industrial flat roofs. The technology, called the Conergy SolarFamulus Air, reduces the ballast requirement for an entire array, and eliminates the need for roof penetrations. The principle employed when developing the system was one similar to that of a spoiler on a race car: the baffles help to significantly reduce vertical, lifting forces cause by wind. The result is a system that is not only lighter, but can literally be installed by the customer in 5 steps.

The company says this technology opens the door to a new solar market. Commercial flat roofs with weight limits could not support traditional solar PV systems, but they now can with their SolarFamulus Air technology, thus expanding the market. The technology boasts venting windows that allow wind and convection to cool the back of the modules which increases module performance.

“Many years of experience have been put into developing this lightly ballasted system that requires no roof penetration,” said Conergy Canada Product Manager Mitch Gorman. “Recent Ontario building code changes have severely reduced the additional load capacity of many Ontario rooftops. The SolarFamulus Air offers a state of the art mounting solution for mounting solar PV on these compromised roofs.”

In addition to higher performance, Conergy said another advantage of this technology is that there are only six components that need to be installed and one tool can do the trick. This saves times and money according to the company as well as shipping costs are reduced.

For our readers who will be attending CanSIA Solar Ontario, Conergy will be teaching consumers how to install the system on May 14, 2012 at 9:00 am EST in booth 414. The training comes on the heels of the product launch, the SolarFamulus Air will begin shipping on May 1.

Electricity, Energy, Solar

Transmission Projects Will Help Wind, Solar

Joanna Schroeder

One of the hurdles for wind and solar energy is getting hooked up with the electrical grid. It is estimated that states like North Dakota could provide massive amounts of wind energy to the country, but today, the energy is produced too far where it is needed without having an updated energy grid. Fortunately, a new report released by Edison Electric Institute (EEI) has found there are more than 100 electric transmission projects either planned or underway in the U.S.

EEI’s member electric utility companies have reported they plan to spend $64 billion on transmission system improvements from now through 2022. This is on top of the already $77 billion spent between 2001-2010. The report includes a brief overview of each member company including detailed information about their projects.

“Although not a comprehensive compilation of all projects that are being undertaken by our member companies,” said EEI’s Vice President of Energy Delivery, James P. Fama, “the sampling of projects highlighted in the EEI report, Transmission Projects: At A Glance, March 2012, highlights the electric power industry’s commitment to investing in needed and beneficial transmission infrastructure over the next 10 years.”

In addition to specific project information, the report also categorized each project into four areas:

  • Interstate Transmission Projects—transmission line improvements that physically span two or more states.
  • Transmission Supporting the Integration of Renewable Resources—transmission projects, whether transmission line or non-transmission line, that support the integration of a renewable resource.
  • Transmission Projects Required for System Reliability Needs—projects where the predominant driver has been identified as the need to meet either NERC reliability standards (e.g., NERC Transmission Planning TPL standards) and/or local Transmission Owner reliability criteria.
  • Transmission Projects Developed by Multiple Project Partners—transmission projects where EEI member companies are partnered with other utilities, including non-EEI members, to leverage their expertise to develop the project.

You can download the full report here.

Electricity, Energy, Smart Grid, Solar, Wind

Solar PV Modules Featured on Disaster Relief Housing

Joanna Schroeder

MAGE Solar, who produces solar PV modules, is part of a REOSE award-winning green building design that was adopted to showcase sustainable living and disaster relief housing. The winning house was the Sunshower SSIP House developed by architects and Tulane professors Judith Kinnard and Tiffany Lin. Part of the requirements were to develop practical, price-affordable and real-life applications for mass housing needs. The house also had to meet the standards for emergency disaster response, shelters where displaced people go after natural disasters.

The house included 22 MAGE POWERTEC PLUS 235 W modules to power all the energy needs for the 1,050 square foot home. The solar panels were complimented by energy efficient building materials allowing the 5.1 kW MAGE SOLAR PV system to provide 100% of the home’s electricity needs even in extreme conditions.

“The concept of the Sunshower House is truly remarkable,” said Joe Thomas, President and CEO of MAGE SOLAR USA. “It’s not only completely well functional, but it also incorporates innovative and aesthetically pleasing design at the same time into ready-made construction. We’d like to congratulate not only the winning architects but also REOSE for their commitment in bringing sustainable mass and emergency housing onto an entirely new level.”

A prototype of the Sunshower SSIP House is currently on display in New Orleans’ Lakeview neighborhood. Consumers, government officials, green building organizations, and relief organizations are all able to tour the home, built using nearly all local or US products.

Electricity, Energy, Solar

Energy Title Funding Restored to Farm Bill

Cindy Zimmerman

In the Senate Agriculture Committee markup of the 2012 Farm Bill on Thursday, an amendment was added to reauthorize mandatory funding for several national renewable energy programs.

Renewable fuel organizations praised the action. “There is no more urgent need in this country today than creating new jobs and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. The programs reauthorized and streamlined today are doing just that, and will continue to help the United States create jobs and replace foreign oil with homegrown, renewable energy production when signed into law,” said a statement from the Advanced Ethanol Council, which represents a number of companies working to commercialize advanced biofuels.

The Agriculture Energy Coalition noted that passage in the Senate committee was an important hurdle, but energy funding still has a long road ahead. “The Coalition will continue its work throughout the process to ensure the bill and energy title move forward and that energy programs continue to receive appropriate mandatory funding.”

“We commend the great work of the Committee to spur additional energy production in rural America,” said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy. “I specifically want to thank Senators Conrad and Lugar for offering a solid, bipartisan amendment that will provide key resources to rural energy programs such as loan guarantees for on-farm renewable energy, energy-efficiency projects, and research and development for advanced biofuels.”

The committee restored some $800 million for programs such as REAP, BCAP, and Biorefinery Assistance, which were created by the 2008 farm bill.

advanced biofuels, AEC, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, Growth Energy

REG Rings the Bell to Celebrate IPO

Joanna Schroeder

The Renewable Energy Group (REG) celebrated its recent initial public offering (IPO) at the NASDAQ, located in New York City, in a closing bell ceremony to recognize shareholders, the board of directors, employees and client service providers. The company officially became public on January 18, 2012 and on hand for the ringing of the bell yesterday was Chairman of the Board, Jeff Stroburg; President and CEO, Daniel J. Oh; and members of the Renewable Energy Group team.

“The biodiesel we produce is an important alternative as crude oil prices remain high and our nation works to meet energy security and cleaner air goals with lower carbon fuels,” Renewable Energy Group President & CEO in remarks today.  “We are proud to play a role in our nation’s energy complex as an industry-leading biorefining company offering rapid growth opportunities.”

Biodiesel, biofuels, REG

Tracking Clean Energy Progress Report Released

Joanna Schroeder

Today, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its Tracking Clean Energy Progress report and in response, the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) said that it confirms government institutions are not doing enough to further the development of clean energy.

The report states that biofuels for transport are not on track to meet their share of CO2 reduction required to meet the agency’s goal of an average of 2 degree Celsius rise in global temperature by 202o. To achieve this goal, biofuel production will need to double and advanced biofuel production would need to quadruple over current capacity.

According to IEA, a key action is for governments to develop stronger policies to support the development of the advanced biofuels industry. Based on the climate 2 degree Celsius scenario posed by the agency, biofuel use will increase to nearly 240 billion litres in 2020, which if produced sustainably, will lead to an approximate 0.1 GT reduction of CO2 emissions.

“The GRFA applauds the IEA for putting the world on notice that it is falling behind with biofuels production,” said Bliss Baker, spokesperson for the organization. “With the threat of climate change growing, it is imperative that we reduce our CO2 emissions with alternatives to crude oil such as biofuels.”

Baker continued by stating that the report reaffirms GRFA’s call to develop biofuels policies that will reduce reliance on crude oil, and supports the need for biofuels as part of a clean energy future.

advanced biofuels, biofuels, Research