Bright Lights of Vegas to be Powered by Wind

John Davis

A Nevada utility will get some of its power from wind energy.

This story from Las Vegas Review-Journal says NV Energy has signed a a deal to buy energy from a wind farm near Ely for the next 20 years:

Pattern Energy Group of San Francisco will build the 150-megawatt Spring Valley Wind Project, which would be Nevada’s first major, utility-scale wind plant.

NV Energy already has announced plans to codevelop with RES Americas the 200-megawatt China Mountain Wind Project near the Idaho border, but that project is still in the environmental-impact statement permitting process.

The Spring Valley project is scheduled for completion by late 2011. Neither company disclosed the terms of the agreement.

“We’re pleased to add more clean renewable energy for our customers, and this project is a good example of developing renewable energy resources in remote parts of our state,” said NV Energy President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Yackira in a statement.

In addition to creating clean energy, the wind farm will create more than 150 jobs during construction with another 10 permanently employed at the wind farm.

The deal is part of a state requirement that NV Energy get 25 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2025.

Wind

Biodiesel, Ethanol Key in “Big Oil” vs. “Big Ag” Fight

John Davis

It’s Big Oil versus Big Ag in the fight for the heart and soul … but mostly the pocketbooks … of transportation fuels users in this country, and biodiesel and ethanol are playing a key role in the battle.

This interesting post on the Cleantech Blog says that Exxon, Chevron, and Shell … aka “Big Oil” … are having their petro-dollars cut into as we use more fuel-efficient cars and run on renewable fuels produced by “Big Ag” … ADM, Bunge, and Cargill. And the EPA’s new Renewable Fuels Standard … RFS2 … this year will cut into Big Oil’s gas and diesel sales by 8 percent … billions of dollars Big Oil doesn’t want to let slip away:

Exxon Mobil’s CEO Rex Tillerson famously referred to ethanol as “moonshine.” Now Exxon is investing $300 million in Craig Ventor’s Synthetic Genomics with plans to produce fuel from algae. BP Biofuels was voted 2009 Biofuels Corporation of the Year by the World Refining Association at its 4th annual Biofuels Conference. BP has poured hundreds of millions into basic biofuel research and into a variety of partnerships including biobutanol with DuPont and Virgin Fuels, and energy cane in the U.S. with Verenium. Shell has established a $12 billion sugarcane ethanol joint venture with Brazil’s Cosan (CZZ).

In the future, if biotech can deliver low-cost liquid hydrocarbons from biomass that can be profitably blended at the refinery, then Big Oil may partner with industrial agriculture. Valero (VLO), the largest refiner in the U.S. bought a number of ethanol plants at deep discounts from bankrupt VeraSun.

The post goes on to talk derisively about how Big Oil and Big Ag are battling for control of the EPA, federal tax breaks, and billions of federal funds.

You might not agree with everything the author had to say in the post, especially the parts where he puts down the use of corn and soybeans for ethanol and biodiesel, but it’s an interesting take on the new biofuels battles.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Evolution Fuels to Put in Arkansas Biodiesel Truck Stop

John Davis

A company that turns gas stations into renewable fuel filling spots will open up its latest station in Arkansas.

This press release from Evolution Fuels, Inc. says the company has inked a lease agreement with J&J Developments, Inc. to put in a truck stop featuring biodiesel in Mountainburg, Arkansas:

The truck stop, which will be operated under the Company’s subsidiary, Legends Travel Centers, is located at 901 Highway 282 SW in Mountainburg, which is just off of Interstate 540, approximately 20 miles south of Fayetteville, AR. Under the terms of the lease, Evolution Fuels will assume operations of the truck stop on February 15, 2010. The Company plans to re-image the truck stop over the course of the next 30 days, and to offer a blend of biodiesel at the truck fuel pumps as soon as possible.

According to the release, this is part of a plan by Evolution and J&J to rollout renewable fuel stations that also include various blends of ethanol in the region over the next few months.

Biodiesel

POET to Announce Cellulosic Ethanol Plans

POET, the largest ethanol producer in the world, plans to announce plans of their process for Project LIBERTY, a 25-million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. According to their press release, POET’s Senior Vice President of Science and Technology Mark Stowers will speak Thursday at the F.O. Licht’s 3rd Annual Developing and Commercialising Next Generation Biofuels conference in London detailing.

Project LIBERTY’s construction is scheduled to begin this year and will use corn cobs as feedstock. POET has operated a pilot cellulosic ethanol plant in Scotland, S.D. since November 2008. The location of this new plant will be alongside the Emmetsburg grain ethanol plant making a more efficient process.

A documentary of POET’s pilot cellulosic ethanol plant can be found by clicking here.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News, POET

Idaho Power to Add More Geothermal Energy

Joanna Schroeder

While alternative energy continues to get a boost from the Obama administration, geothermal still doesn’t seem to be garnering much of the spotlight. However, the energy sector is growing and recently the state of Idaho announced that it will increase its percentage of energy output from wind, solar and biomass and is looking to add more geothermal derived energy.

Photo Credit: U.S. Geothermal Inc.

Based its 20 year Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) filed with the state last December, the most promising form of geothermal energy for Southern Idaho is binary cycle geothermal development. In this type of plant, the hot geothermal water is passed through a heat exchanger which then heats a binary liquid. From there, the liquid is vaporized and the vapor spins the turbine-generator unit where it is then reliquefied and reused in the heat exchanger. After a portion of geothermal water is used for heat, it exits the plant and is returned back to the reservoir.

The first project, Raft River, is already producing electricity and Idaho Power is looking to develop additional projects over the next decade. To date there are only 12 binary cycle geothermal plants in operation in the US.

In the near-term, Idaho Power plans on adding 266MW of wind capacity in 2010 through long-term power purchase contracts and plans to have over 600MW of wind by the end of 2012. In addition, they have hired Black and Veatch to conduct a feasiblity study for solar techologies.

In an effort to increase geothermal funding and projects across the US, the industry is gathering in San Francisco next week for the GeoPower Americas conference where the goal is to raise more attention to this promising form of alternative energy.

Geothermal, Solar, Wind

Greenhouse Gas Services Acquires StormFisher

Joanna Schroeder

Virgina-based Greenhouse Gas Services, a company that invests in and develops projects that reduce greenhouse gases, announced today that it has acquired Toronto-based StormFisher Ltd. StormFisher operates projects in North America focusing on turning food or agricultural byproducts into natural gas and electricity. As part of the deal, StormFisher investor Denham Capital is now an investor in Greenhouse Gas Services which is a GE AES venture.

Mauricio Vargas, CEO of Greenhouse Gas Services said of the transaction, “Adding the StormFisher team and its pipeline of shovel-ready biogas projects expands Greenhouse Gas Services’ business line and complements our carbon platform. As carbon and renewable energy policies continue to evolve, we see tremendous opportunity and growth for us in North America.”

The company anticipates breaking ground this year on its first biogas project, a 2.8-megawatt facility in London, Ontario that will convert more than 100,000 tonnes of organic materials from agri-food producers into renewable energy through anaerobic digestion. The electricity produced will be sold to the Ontario Power Authority.

“This deal brings together StormFisher’s project development expertise and pipeline of new opportunities with the carbon credit specialization of Greenhouse Gas Services,” said Bas van Berkel, President of StormFisher. “It represents the combination of two very entrepreneurial firms with the backing of multi-billion dollar companies.”

In addition to the project in Ontario, the company is currently developing other biogas facilities in Wisconsin and California, which are expected to be operational by the end of 2011.

biogas, Electricity, Energy, Utilities

Book Review – Crude World

Joanna Schroeder

Yesterday I declared this the Week of Oil. While the Obama administration is calling for more green jobs and support of the clean tech industry, it is also calling for more research on ‘clean coal’ and more off-shore drilling. It’s these last two items that really seem to fire people up so I decided it was high time I learned more about oil’s world and I began by reading “Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil,” by Peter Maass.

This book takes you on a journey around the world and throws you into the violence that surrounds nations’ quest for oil. It’s not pretty. To reiterate what most people already know, the majority of oil left in the world lies in volatile areas. And not just the Middle East, but areas of Africa and South America. Too many people believe that oil leads to wealth and the revival of a country. However, too often, it leads to corruption by government officials, increased poverty and unrest – not to mention the environmental devastation that occurs.

The sad thing is that despite knowing better (America is all for human rights, right?) our own corporations support these evil regimes. A case in point that Maass discusses is Equatorial Guinea and its corrupt dictatorial President Teodoro Obiang. His reported salary is $60,000 a year (US dollars) but it was recently discovered that he has bank accounts in access of $700 million. The bank accounts reside in the U.S.

So while he’s rolling in the dough, the people of his county are uneducated, underfed and lacking in basic amenities like clean water and electricity. Eventually, the Senate released a report detailing “money laundering and foreign corruption” after being tipped off by journalist Ken Silverstein, and in the report wrote that oil companies operating in the country “may have contributed to corrupt practices in the country.” Naturally, the oil companies denied paying bribes (which is illegal), a few hands were slapped and business as usual resumed. The only true losers were the citizens of Equatorial Guinea.Read More

book reviews

Petroleum Panel Discussion at Biodiesel Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

Petroleum PanelIf you’re wanting to know where biodiesel will sit at the oil company table then you’re in luck because we had a morning panel discussion here at the National Biodiesel Conference that included experts in the field to talk about it. The RFS-2 will likely mean that these companies will be adding biofuels to their product lines which has the potential to double biodiesel production in a single year. You’ll hear this talked about in the discussion.

The moderator for the discussion was Ron Marr, Minnesota Soybean Processors and presenters included David Blatnik, Marathon Petroleum Company, LLC; John Cusick, Morgan Stanley Capital Group, Inc.; Bruce Heine, Magellan Midstream Partners; Jim Lelio, Kinder Morgan Pipeline Group; Mike Reed, Northville Product Services.

National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference

Enterprise Fleet Moving To Biodiesel

Chuck Zimmerman

Enterprise Biodiesel AnnouncementEnterprise Holdings made a major announcement this morning at the National Biodiesel Conference.

Enterprise Holdings today announced plans for its entire fleet of more than 600 Alamo Rent A Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental airport shuttle buses across more than 50 North American markets to begin using at least 5 percent biodiesel (B5).

Pictured at the press conference are (l-r) Joe Jobe, CEO NBB, Dr. Richard Sayre, Director, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels, and Lee Broughton, director of corporate identity and sustainability for Enterprise Holdings. Each of them spoke at a morning press conference.

Further, the company will immediately convert buses in nine markets to 20 percent biodiesel (B20) as a first step toward the company’s goal of converting its entire bus fleet to B20 over the next five years.

Enterprise Holdings expects to complete the conversion to all B5 by spring of this year, with at least 50 percent converted to B20 by the end of next year. Buses in nine markets are immediately being converted to run on B20 where the fuel is centrally stored and available: Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Raleigh/Durham, San Antonio and San Diego.

“This investment in biodiesel follows our commitment to our customers and our business to use our fleet to help grow the clean fuel market. By embracing alternative fuels and engine technologies, they have a greater opportunity to become commercially viable,” said Lee Broughton, director of corporate identity and sustainability for Enterprise Holdings. “Biodiesel’s benefits to the environment support our commitment to environmental stewardship, as well as our sustainable approach to managing our business for long-term success.”

In addition to embracing biodiesel and other alternative fuels as they become commercially viable, Enterprise Holdings also provides strong support for renewable fuels research. In 2007, the company’s owners, the Taylor family, made a $25 million grant to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis to create the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels. Led by renowned plant researcher Dr. Richard Sayre, top scientists work at the Institute to develop alternatives to finite fossil fuels by finding new ways to create fuel from renewable, reliable plant sources.

National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference, Fleet

Petra Solar Announces $40M Growth Financing

Joanna Schroeder

Solar energy is not just for roofs. Petra Solar, a company that specializes in pole mounted solar systems for utilities, announced that it has raised $40 million in funding to be used for expansion initiatives. Current investors in the company participated in this round including Element Partners, Blue Run Ventures, OnPoint Technologies (U.S. Army’s Venture Fund) and Kuwait’s National Technology Enterprises Company, and were joined by two new investors Craton Equity Partners and Espírito Santo Ventures.

“The Petra Solar management team is very pleased to have Craton Equity Partners and Espírito Santo Ventures as investors, especially given their experience in cleantech growth investing and their expertise in the regulated energy sector.  We are also thankful for the continued support of our existing investors,” said Petra Solar CEO and President, Dr. Shihab Kuran. “Petra Solar has a proven model for green job creation including installation and manufacturing jobs that are local to system deployment. We are very gratified that our business interests line up directly with the public’s interest in producing reliable, clean energy and green jobs.”

The company plans to use the additional funding to add green jobs and expand its customer base. Petra Solar anticipates that it will immediately add 30 new employees and have a team of 165 people by year end. The company’s SunWaveTM system generates clean energy and increases reliability to the distribution grid. In the future, the company plans to expand its product line to address new applications and market segments that leverage its Smart Energy Module TM platform, which integrates utility grade power management, smart grid communications and grid availability features into a single system.

Energy, Solar, Utilities