Algae.Tec Limited has announced it has executed an agreement with China Finance Strategies Investment Holdings Ltd (CFS) under which Algae.Tec will issue an initial US $0.5m convertible bond and, subject to the achievement of certain milestones, will issue US $5m conditional options to CFS, and CFS will introduce Algae.Tec’s unique technology into the greater China region.- Survalent Technology’s Advanced Distrubution Management System (ADMS) took home the award for the Best Smart Grid Solution at the 2014 Rural Smart Grid Summit (RSGS), held at the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona.
- The report “Global Wind Turbine Value Chain – Production, Market Share, Competitive Landscape and Market Size to 2020,” provides an overview of the global wind power market, examining major drivers and restraints, global wind power capacity and generation data broken down by region, country, and segment (onshore/offshore). It also looks at the wind turbine market, covering global average turbine size, price, market size, and manufacturer share in terms of installations. The report discusses the global wind turbine value chain, examining the key components of a wind turbine: the rotor blade, gearbox, tower, and generator. It analyzes the production, cost, market size and major trends for each component, as well as major companies’ competitive landscapes.
- TerraForm Power, Inc. has announced that it has commenced a $350 million underwritten public offering of shares of its Class A common stock. TerraForm Power has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase additional shares of its Class A common stock. TerraForm Power intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund a portion of the previously announced acquisition of certain power generation assets from First Wind.
NEC Scholarship Award Winner Announced
The Renewable Fuels Association and Renewable Fuels Foundation are proud to announce the student scholarship award winner for the 20th annual National Ethanol Conference: Going Global next month in Grapevine, Texas.
This year’s scholarship winner is Laís Thomaz of Brazil, who received her master’s degree in international relations in 2012 from San Tiago Dantas, a graduate program supported by three of Brazil’s premier universities. Her dissertation, which focused on the role of advocacy groups in the shaping of ethanol trade policies, was published as a book by Brazil’s Editora UNESP. Her research previously won the Top Ethanol Award promoted by the Brazilian Sugarcane Ethanol Industry Association (UNICA). She is currently a Ph.D. candidate and a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Government at Georgetown University.
The RFA/RFF scholarship provides students enrolled in higher education with complimentary registration at the conference, giving scholarship recipients the chance to connect with hundreds of leaders, policymakers, and experts associated with the renewable fuel industry. Only students who focus on renewable fuels in their studies and intend to pursue a career in the industry are eligible to receive the scholarship. This is the sixth consecutive year in which this scholarship has been made available to students.
Iowa Biodiesel, Ethanol Marketers Recognized
The Iowa Department of Agriculture honors some ethanol and biodiesel marketers in the state. Mark McKinley and Galen Barker from Fuel Time in St. Ansgar and Steve Neuendorf from Farmers Win Cooperative in Fredericksburg are the 2015 winners of the Secretary’s Ethanol and Biodiesel Marketing Awards, recognizing fuel marketers who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to promote and sell renewable fuels.
“Fuel Time in St. Ansgar and Farmers Win Cooperative in Fredericksburg have made it a priority to make biodiesel and ethanol more available to Iowa drivers and promote these home-grown fuels,” [Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill] Northey said.
The Secretary’s Ethanol and Biodiesel Marketing Awards were designed to recognize businesses that market the renewable fuels they have available through creative efforts including, but not limited to: hosting special events highlighting their renewable fuels, development of creative signage, initiation of new advertisements or marketing efforts, and dramatically increase renewable fuel availability…
Fuel Time sources its ethanol from the local ethanol plant and passes the saving on to customers, and the result has been that on several occasion it offered the lowest priced fuel in the country.
The facilities at the Fuel Time station were recently remodeled and they have had a number of events promoting E15 and higher blends of ethanol at the site. In response to their aggressive promotion and competitive pricing of renewable fuels, monthly sales show that E85 sales are typically equal to or greater than E10 sales…
Farmers Win Cooperative, under Neuendorf’s leadership, has made it a priority to give customers a choice at the pump, including access to higher blends of biodiesel. Farmers Win has installed a biodiesel blender pump that in spring thru fall offers a clear #2 diesel as well as blends of 10 percent (B10), 20 percent (B20), 30 percent (B30), and 50 percent (B50). They now offer these products in Burr Oak and Fredericksburg.
The winners were announced and recognized during the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Stores of Iowa Annual Meeting in Des Moines on Jan. 13th.
Hydro Dynamics’ 98% Ethanol Race Car Featured on PBS
A race car that runs on a 98 percent blend of ethanol was recently featured on the PBS TV show Farm Connections. The US Ethanol Race Car is sponsored by Hydro Dynamics, Inc. of Rome, Georgia, the developer of a patented cavitation process intensification technology called the ShockWave Power Reactor (SPR), enabling customers to solve critical mixing and heating problems.
Beginning this year HDI sponsored the US Ethanol car by Olmscheid Racing. Olmscheid Racing, based in Elrosa, MN, competes in the Midwest. The HDI logo is prominently displayed on the hood and provides excellent brand awareness in the heart of the ethanol industry of the Shock Wave Power Reactor (SPR) cavitation technology.
The SPR has several ethanol applications including yield enhancement, increased production of corn oil, cellulosic ethanol and the conversion of extracted corn oil to biodiesel. HDI’s extensive renewable energy portfolio also includes biogas, conventional biodiesel and algae oil extraction. The sponsorship has been a great way to draw attention to our ethanol initiatives including our new bolt-on biodiesel plants to convert corn oil to biodiesel.
More information about the process is available at www.hydrodynamics.com.
Brazilian Ethanol Summit Planned for June
The 5th annual Ethanol Summit 2015 will take place in the Golden Hall of the World Trade Center (WTC) in São Paulo on June 29-30, 2015. The event supported by the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) and will focus on renewable energy, especially ethanol, biomaterials and biochemicals that can be produced from sugarcane. There are more than 100 speakers in four major plenary sessions, 15 thematic panels and opening and closing ceremonies, as well as side events. Ethanol Summit 2015 will be organized by one of the world congress companies, MCI.
“We have a year ahead in which key decisions for the future of the sugarcane industry will be taken, both in Brazil and on the world stage, increasing the importance of the Summit as the main forum for discussions on the most relevant topics for the energy and renewable products coming of cane sugar,” said the president of UNICA, Elizabeth Farina.
For the CEO of MCI Brazil, Juliano Lissoni, completion of the Ethanol Summit is an important and highly visible challenge. “It is a high-level event, worldwide established as a major meetings focused on renewable energy. We want to contribute to the Summit grow and go further, contributing directly to the present and the future of this activity increasingly essential for Brazil and the world.”
Registration for the event will be opened in February, with the launch of the official website of the Ethanol Summit 2015.
South African DOE Awards SolarReserve CSP Project
The South Africa Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded preferred bidder status for a 100 megawatt (MW) Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) project to SolarReserve and International Company for Water and Power Projects (ACWA Power). The project was developed in response to the DOE’s Round 3 (CSP) Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The Redstone Solar Thermal Power project, with the lowest tariff bid to date from any CSP project in the country, is scheduled to achieve financial close later in 2015 and commence operations in early 2018.
The first of its kind in Africa, the Redstone Solar Thermal Power Project features SolarReserve’s molten salt energy storage technology in a tower configuration. According to SolarReserve, the 100 MW project with 12 hours of full-load energy storage will be able to reliably deliver a stable electricity supply to more than 200,000 South African homes during peak demand periods. Fueled completely by the sun, with no back up fuel required, the 
project also features dry cooling of the power generation cycle as an important element to minimize water use. The project technology will be based on SolarReserve’s successful Crescent Dunes project in the U.S., which is complete with construction and currently in final commissioning.
“The Redstone project marks an important technology advancement for South Africa in solar power,” said SolarReserve’s CEO Kevin Smith. “Due to the fully integrated thermal energy storage, the plant will provide dispatchable power on-demand, just like conventional coal, oil, nuclear or natural gas-fired power plants, but without the harmful emissions or hazardous materials and without any fuel cost. In addition, the project’s delivered electricity price is the lowest of any Concentrating Solar Power project in the country to date.”
The Redstone Solar Thermal Power Project will be located in Postmasburg, near Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province, adjacent to the 75 MW Lesedi and 96 MW Jasper photovoltaic (PV) solar power projects successfully developed by SolarReserve and its investment partners. Together, the three projects comprise the world’s first combined CSP and PV solar park with a total of 271 MW of generating capacity.
“This Redstone Solar Project together with our 50 MW Bokpoort CSP project in South Africa and the Noor1, 160 MW solar thermal power plant at Ouarzzate in Morocco, extends ACWA Power’s success in solar energy on the African continent,” added Paddy Padmanathan, president and CEO of ACWA Power. “All aspects of the project, from development phase to construction and then operations, have been structured to ensure maximization of value retention in not just only the South African economy, but also within the local economy of Northern Cape Province recognizing the intrinsic value in co-developing local people along with this asset which will co-exist with the local community for decades to come.”
SheerWind Pilots Wind Project in Apollo Beach
SheerWind has been selected by Tampa Electric for a wind energy pilot project to be commissioned in Apollo Beach, Florida at Tampa Electric’s Big Bend Power Station. Tampa Electric has selected 
the 200-KW INVELOX wind power generation to be built as a pilot project in 2015. According to SheerWind, after sufficient data is collected (6 to 8 months) and if the technology is shown to be viable, Tampa Electric may purchase a utility-scale 1.8MW INVELOX system.
The company explains its INVELOX funnel system is a solution that utilizes current wind power turbines and rotors but brings them to ground level for easier, safer, and cheaper operation and maintenance. Multiple turbines can be used in a row or series to increase output capacity for each tower while reducing downtime to near zero.
“We are pleased to be included in Tampa Electric’s Big Bend Power Station. They understand the importance of exploring and showcasing new technology,” said Steve Hill, Chief Operating Officer of SheerWind. “This project will assist in SheerWind’s mission to provide sustainable, affordable, electrical energy to anyone, anywhere.”
BioEnergy Bytes
- The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) has approved a USD 420,000 preparation grant to Jumeme – Rural Power Supply Ltd (JRPS) to support the development of a portfolio of independent solar-hybrid mini-grids in rural growth centres in Tanzania. Specifically, the SEFA grant will finance the costs related to technical studies, lender’s due diligence support, legal and financial advisory services. Tanzania’s national electricity coverage is estimated at about 21%, with transmission grid covering a minor part of the country and leaving out most of the territory, particularly in western and southern regions.
- Innovative Solar Systems (ISS) has secured all approvals and is ready to start construction on an 80MW Solar Farm Project in North Carolina. ISS has all approvals in place including interconnection agreements, purchase power agreements, state, federal and regulatory approvals for Innovative Solar 46, an 80MW solar farm project located in Hope Mills, NC. This project will be the single largest solar farm project ever built in the United States on this side of the Rockies.
- HOMA Pump Technology is now generating 100 percent of its anticipated electricity usage at its Ansonia, Connecticut facility from a recently completed solar project designed, engineered, and installed by the Ross Solar Group. Commissioned in December of 2014, the 104,640-watt installation is comprised of 320 high-efficiency SunPower solar panels, and four SMA Tripower 24000 TL inverters. The system is expected to generate in excess of 125,000 kilowatt hours of clean energy per year.
- According to a new report from Navigant Research, worldwide revenue from distributed energy storage systems (DESSs) is expected to grow from $452 million annually in 2014 to more than $16.5 billion in 2024. The report analyzes global market forecasts for power capacity, energy capacity and revenue through 2024.
Participate in “Shout Out for Solar” Day
“Shout Out for Solar Day” is taking place on Friday, January 16, 2015 on Facebook, Twitter and other social media venues. The event coincides with the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) 41st anniversary as well as the release of The Solar Foundation’s “National Solar Jobs Census” report on Thursday, January 15.
“With the U.S. solar energy industry coming off a record-shattering year, next week’s ‘Shout Out For Solar’ Day is the perfect time for Americans to voice their support for increased development of solar resources nationwide,” said Rhone Resch, SEIA president and CEO. “In a short period of time, solar has become a true American success story, benefiting both 
the U.S. economy and our environment, and we need to be shouting that news from every rooftop.”
According to estimates, the U.S. now has more than 20 GW of installed solar capacity, enough to effectively power nearly 4 million America homes – or every single home in a state the size of Massachusetts or New Jersey – with another 20 GW in the pipeline for 2015-16. SEIA says the growth is being spurred, in part, by the affordability of solar. According to SEIA/GTM Research, national blended average system prices have dropped 53 percent since 2010.
“By any measurement, these policies [net metering] are paying huge dividends for both the economy and environment,” Resch continued. “Yet despite all of the progress we’ve made, solar faces an uncertain future in Washington and in some state capitals. It’s more important than ever for the voices of our supporters to be heard.”
Anyone can participate in the event. Pictures can be uploaded to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #GoSolar. Supporters can download and print signs for their pictures here. SEIA is also hosting a Thunderclap, which will send out coordinated Tweets and Facebook posts from hundreds of supporters on January 16.
TruMarx Offers Biodiesel and RINs Transactions on COMET
TruMarx Data Partners is now offering biodiesel and renewable identification numbers (RINs) transactions on COMET, the energy industry’s on-demand platform for custom bilateral OTC transactions.
COMET now supports direct bilateral transactions for biodiesel and assigned RINs, separated D4 RINs, and RIN-less biodiesel (wet gallons). This new capability allows users to:
• Electronically and confidentially structure their transaction to include important product details such as quality, certification, blend, facility info, delivery details, Q-RIN designation, QAP provider, etc.
• Publish the structure to any pre-screened COMET counterparts via a one-to-many request for price.
• Negotiate the terms of the transaction via multiple one-to-one confidential negotiations until the originator accepts or rejects a particular transaction.
• Receive an automated transaction confirmation with full transaction details.
• Generate a comprehensive transaction audit trail to help meet a variety of audit and regulatory compliance standards.
“We are excited to introduce this new biodiesel transaction capability for COMET. It will allow active traders in this important energy category to enjoy the tremendous benefits that COMET provides”, said Jon Olson, Founder, President and CEO. “Our customers have asked for this platform and we are excited to deliver”, said Mr. Olson.
TruMarx says this new biodiesel/RINs capability will offer many benefits for users, including reducing fraudulent transaction concerns, increasing market transparency and scope, allowing self-service price discovery, and making it overall easier for users with on-line and on-demand access.