Wind Energy Co. Launches Buoy off New Jersey

John Davis

Perhaps buoyed by the federal Interior Department’s decision to let an offshore wind energy farm be built off the coast of Massachusetts – the first of its kind in this country – a New Jersey wind energy company has launched a real buoy to test the winds for what might be that state’s first offshore wind farm.

The Press of Atlantic City reports Fishermen’s Energy set out the buoy to gather for the next two years weather data, such as wind speed and barometric pressure, while also monitoring migrating whales, dolphins, birds and bats:

Fishermen’s Energy and two other companies plan to build offshore windmills between Atlantic City and Avalon. But the Cape May company has a head start on its competition, Garden State Offshore Wind and Bluewater Wind, because Fishermen’s Energy is building a 20-megawatt demonstration project in state waters where there is less red tape.

This smaller project 2.8 miles off Atlantic City will help determine the viability of Fishermen’s Energy’s larger 350-megawatt project planned for 10 miles off the coast.

The buoy will record the sounds of passing whales, dolphins, birds and bats. Studies have shown that bats are especially vulnerable to windmills, which create areas of low pressure between their spinning blades that can kill the small flying mammals.

New Jersey has set a goal of producing 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2020.

Wind

Wheelabrator Technologies Buys Waste-to-Energy Plants

John Davis

A subsidiary of garbage giant Waste Management is buying a public utility’s waste-to-energy facility.

Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. has acquired the Southeastern Public Service Authority’s Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) plant and adjacent waste-to-energy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia for $150 million:

The purchase concludes a lengthy process that commenced more than two years ago when SPSA began consideration of a proposal to sell the two plants in order to reduce debt and operating costs and draw on the expertise of a private vendor. Three other companies submitted competing bids. After narrowing the candidates to two, the Authority chose Wheelabrator on November 17, 2009. A newly constituted SPSA Board, which took office January 1, 2010 as a result of a change in state law, continued the sale process, ending with the Board votes on April 28.

SPSA will use the $150-million from the sale to pay down debt to the Virginia Resource Authority (VRA) and other lending institutions, and repay money owed to the City of Virginia Beach.

The 164 SPSA employees will now become Wheelabrator employees. The waste-to-energy facilities turn up to 2,000 tons a day of municipal solid waste (MSW) into 600,000 pounds of steam per hour and 60-megawatts of electricity. The steam will go to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard repair operations, with the electricity going into the grid.

Waste-to-Energy

Farm Bureau Supports Extending Biofuel Tax Incentives

Cindy Zimmerman

afbfTax incentives play a key role in the development and production of renewable energy, and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is urging Congress to pass two bills that would extend renewable fuel tax credits for five years.

In a statement presented for the record to a House Ways and Means Committee hearing this week on energy tax incentives, AFBF said long-term tax incentives are needed to boost renewable energy technologies and support development of the market infrastructure necessary to make these technologies more competitive.

AFBF supports legislation that would extend the biodiesel tax incentive for five years and change the biodiesel tax incentive from a blenders excise tax credit to a production excise tax credit. The general farm organization also backs the Renewable Fuels Reinvestment Act that extends the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit and the Small Ethanol Producers Tax Credit for five years through 2015. That bill also extends the Cellulosic Ethanol Production Tax Credit for three years, through 2015 and the secondary tariff on ethanol that offsets the benefit received by imported ethanol.

“Clean and renewable domestic energy will help America achieve long-term economic growth, create a cleaner environment and shield our energy supply from unreliable foreign sources,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “Renewable fuels are vital for rural America. They create much needed jobs and open new markets for farmers and ranchers. Tax incentives play a key role in the development and production of renewable energy.”

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Farm Bureau, Farming, Government

Developing Specialized Sorghum for Energy

Cindy Zimmerman

An Illinois biotech company is working on the development of sorghum varieties specifically suited for energy production.

SorghumChromatin, Inc. CEO Daphne Preuss told the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. this week that the company is expanding its technology development portfolio to produce fit-for-purpose sorghum as a renewable feedstock for the biofuels, green power and renewable chemicals sectors.

“Feedstock quality and compositional attributes are key drivers of efficiencies for industrial bioprocessors, and whether the process requires starch, sugar or lignocellulose, we believe sorghum makes an ideal platform for feedstock development,” said Preuss. “By applying our proven and innovative technology portfolio to this plant, we will provide energy crops and value-added products that are uniquely suited for a broad range of applications, precisely matched to the needs of bioprocessors,” she said.

Chromatin plans to build and commercialize its sorghum product portfolio to optimize sorghum for specific bioprocessors’ needs.

sorghum

Meat Producers Oppose Ethanol Tax Incentives

Cindy Zimmerman

American_Meat_Institute_LogoMajor livestock and poultry trade associations sent a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee this week asking that they allow the blenders’ tax credit and associated tariff for ethanol to expire at the end of this year. The request was made in a letter signed by industry trade associations, including the American Meat Institute, the National Turkey Federation, the National Chicken Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

“The blender’s tax credit, coupled with the import tariff on foreign ethanol, has distorted the corn market, increased the cost of feeding animals, and squeezed production margins — resulting in job losses and bankruptcies in rural communities across America,” the groups wrote.

cornThe ethanol industry begs to disagree and contends that the livestock industry just wants cheap feed. “Once again, corporate livestock interests are seeking to return to the days they bought corn under the price of production for the American farmer. Such practices resulted in farmers getting more income from the government than they could from the marketplace, while corporate livestock industries prospered,” responded the Renewable Fuels Association in a statement. “Ethanol is not the major driving force behind corn prices, whether they are rising or falling. Oil prices, speculation, weather, and a host of other factors have far more to do with the price of corn than ethanol production. Consider that since the peak of corn prices in 2008, oil prices have fallen by half and speculation in grain markets has eased considerably.”

Indeed, the meat producers’ letter points out that a September 2008 report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) stated that the dramatic increase in livestock production costs were attributed to higher costs for feed. The CRS report said that “the main driver was feed, which may account for 60%-70% of total livestock production costs in any given year.”

What the letter does not point out, however, is that the same report gave a number of reasons for the higher feed costs, including strong economic growth in developing countries, weather-related crop shortfalls (mostly in other countries and not corn), surging U.S. corn exports, higher demand for feed from livestock producers, increased corn production costs mainly to higher energy-related (fertilizer and fuel) costs, and actions by a number of foreign governments to insulate their own markets from high commodity prices. Government biofuels policy was noted as a contributing factor as well, although it was also noted that ethanol by-products can be fed by livestock producers to help offset higher feed corn prices, which makes the overall impact on feed prices difficult to assess.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, livestock feed, RFA

Purdue Report Disputes Indirect Land Use Findings

Cindy Zimmerman

purdueA recently completed state-of-the-art analysis from Purdue University concludes that the California Air Resources Board (ARB) overestimated the indirect land use change (ILUC) impact of grain-based ethanol by a factor of two in developing its Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS) one year ago.

Renewable Fuels Association LogoThe Renewable Fuels Association sent a letter sent this week to ARB Chair Mary Nichols pointing out this dramatic conclusion and reminded her of the board’s promise to review and incorporate new science as it becomes available. In the letter, RFA President Bob Dinneen wrote:

“New research conducted and published by Purdue University using the Global Trade Analysis Project model (GTAP) concludes that land use change emissions potentially associated with corn ethanol expansion are likely less than half of the level estimated by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff for the LCFS. While we continue to have grave concerns about including highly uncertain and prescriptive indirect emissions penalties in the LCFS (for instance, we do not believe ARB has the authority to account for ILUC consistent with the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution), we write to point out the new Purdue findings because we believe ARB has committed itself to consider and respond to critical developments like these.”

Read a pdf of the Purdue report here.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Indirect Land Use, RFA

POET Meets the Press

Cindy Zimmerman

poet pressPOET CEO Jeff Broin was surrounded by the media Wednesday after President Obama made a visit to a POET ethanol plant in Macon, Missouri. It gave him an opportunity to address some of the criticism of ethanol regarding its impact on the environment.

“Today ethanol is 59 percent lower in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline and so it is far more environmentally friendly,” Broin responded to a reporter’s question. He talked about indirect land use change, cellulosic ethanol, increasing efficiency of ethanol plants and the ability of cars to run efficiently on higher blends of ethanol. “I personally own a flex-fuel vehicle that gets the same mileage on E30 as it gets on regular gasoline,” Broin said.

Although he admitted not having enough time with President Obama to talk extensively about issues facing the industry, Broin said he believes the president supports biofuels. “I think the president has been a true champion for biofuels,” said Broin. “He was when he was in Illinois, he seems to still be extremely supportive, the secretary of agriculture is very supportive and I think that we’ll continue to see the president be very supportive of biofuels.”

Ethanol, POET

Tennessee Holds Ethanol Workshop

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture hosted a workshop yesterday to educate retailers on issues relating to ethanol. “Meeting the Demands of Fuel Standards with Ethanol Fuel” was attended by nearly 80 participants who included fuel suppliers, retailers, terminal operators and fleet managers.

Topics covered during the workshop included: issues and solutions to E10 and E85 field problems, E85 dispensers and Underwriters Laboratory approval update, electronic monitoring of water levels, underground storage tanks, renewable fuels standard, and grant opportunities for E85.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is now accepting applications for funding through their BIOTENN Green Island Biofuel Corridor Program to establish biofuel refueling sites no more than 100 miles apart along Tennessee’s interstates and major highways. Up to $45,000 is being offered by this program to install E85 infrastructure. The Green Island grant program requires a 20% match that cannot come from state or federal funds. This is a reimbursement program and the station owner must demonstrate that eligible expenditures have been paid before reimbursing grant recipients for a new pump installation or conversion to E85.

The Growth Energy Market Development team also presented at the event explaining their ethanol infrastructure grant program where $2,500 is available on top of the TDOT funding.

The workshop was sponsored by the Tennessee Fuel and Convenience Store Association, the Tennessee Petroleum Council in partnership with: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Department of Transportation, and East Tennessee Clean Fuels.

E85, Ethanol, News

Video Of President Obama Speech at POET Biorefining

Chuck Zimmerman

You might have already listened to President Obama speaking yesterday in Macon, MO at POET Biorefining plant but now you can watch him. He may not have mentioned corn or corn ethanol but as you can see from his backdrop here, it was prominently displayed.

Ethanol, POET, Video

Biodiesel to Fuel Lake Erie Ferry Service

John Davis

A Lake Erie ferry service will be greening up its fleet by running one of its passenger vessels on a blend of biodiesel.

Biodiesel Magazine reports that Miller Boat Line will be running its ferry, the William Market, on a 10 to 20 percent blend of a not-so-typical type of biodiesel:

The fuel, G2 Diesel, is made from reacting soybean oil and ethanol—not fossil-derived methanol as most biodiesel transesterification processes use.

G2 Diesel is produced by 11 Good Energy Inc., a Delaware corporation formed in May 2007. In November 2009, the company opened a 16.5 MMgy facility in Magnolia, Ohio.

Miller Boat Line describes itself as the most value-friendly way to travel to Put-in-Bay and the only way to bring vehicles to the island. Scott Market, vice president of Miller Boat Line, said the company has become the only environmentally-friendly option for tourists.

“As a family-owned business, we think about our kids with everything we do and we thought it was time to do something to protect the environment for future generations,” Market said. “This allows us to shrink our carbon footprint.”

The company says it hopes one day to use the G2 Diesel in all four of its vessels.

Biodiesel