A one-million-gallon-a-year algae-biodiesel plant could soon become a reality for Massachusetts with some help from the state and federal governments.
Biomass Magazine reports that Plankton Power, the maker of algae-based biodiesel, and the Regional Technology Development Corp. of Cape Cod, Mass. are working together to build a pilot-scale algae-based biodiesel production facility in Bourne, Mass.
Together with the Massachusetts National Guard, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Marine Biological Laboratory and Cape Cod Commission, the groups recently submitted a $20 million project proposal to the U.S. DOE that would leverage $4 million in private funding to construct the facility.
Curtis Felix, CEO of Plankton Power, told Biomass Magazine the company will provide its own algae growth technology, which is based on cold saltwater algae species grown in closed ponds, and will have substantial ongoing support from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.
The Cape Cod Algae Biorefinery will be located on five acres on the Massachusetts Military Reservation in Bourne. Felix said the location is ideal for the project, because of its on-site wastewater treatment plant, which will provide an excellent source of nutrients for the algae, and Massachusetts Military Reservation’s close proximity to the Cape Cod Canal, which would provide a convenient source of seawater and a renewable thermal energy source for algal growth and temperature control.
The article goes on to say that the one million gallons a year of biodiesel the plant could make might be enough for all of Cape Cod’s biodiesel needs. Officials hope to start contruction next summer.
The bad news is: According to 
A pair of three-year National Science Foundation grants will help the St. Louis-based Donald Danforth Plant Science Center continue its biofuel research.
The Canadian government is putting more than $72 million into a biodiesel plant in Ontario.
The news was also welcomed by the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA):
The recent American Coalition for Ethanol’s 22nd Ethanol Conference & Trade Show in Milwaukee saw an exploration of an issue that remains a hot issue in the biofuels biz: Indirect Land Use.
The concept that the growth of some biofuels feedstocks in the United States, especially corn and soybeans, could cause the cutting down of the rain forests in other parts of the world… and would disqualify some of the green fuels from being part of the proposed Renewable Fuels Standard.
The latest discussion featured energy economist from Purdue University Wally Tyner and Air Improvement Resource President Tom Darlington, who talked about how studies that blamed corn-based ethanol for deforestation ended up being wrong and how the most common economic models used to figure the amount of Indirect Land Use vary too much and don’t consider things like dry distillers grains.
The city of Gary, Indiana plans to replace 120 cars and trucks in its aging auto fleet this year with new flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) paid for with a $3 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration.
As the company moves closer to the commercial development phase for cellulosic ethanol, 
With just four races left in the current racing season, Volkswagen Motorsports has announced next year’s SCCA Pro Racing Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup schedule… a series that features clean-burning B5 biodiesel in its cars.
In what is being characterized by the company as a major breakthrough in algae technology to be turned into biodiesel, California-based Aurora Biofuels has optimized algae strains that more than double their intake of carbon dioxide… important for producing the oil that is eventually turned into biodiesel.