MSU to Develop Hardier Switchgrass for Biofuels

Joanna Schroeder

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture have awarded $1 million to Michigan State University (MSU) to develop hardier switchgrass. The feedstock is a North American native plant that holds great potential as a biofuel source. The research team believes that if switchgrass would better survive northern winters, the plant could be an even better source for clean energy.

Robin Buell, MSU plant biologist, will work to identify the genetic factors that regulate cold hardiness in switchgrass. “This project will explore the genetic basis for cold tolerance that will permit the breeding of improved switchgrass cultivars that can yield higher biomass in northern climates,” said Buell, also an Robin Buell MSUMSU AgBioResearch scientist. “It’s part of an ongoing collaboration with scientists in the USDA Agricultural Research Service to explore diversity in native switchgrass as a way to improve its yield and quality as a biofuel feedstock.”

One of the proposed methods to increase the biomass of switchgrass is to grow lowland varieties in northern latitudes where they flower later in the season. Lowland switchgrass is not adapted to the colder conditions of a northern climate, however, and merely a small percentage of the plants survive. It is these hardy survivors that are the subject of Buell’s research.

“Dr. Buell’s investment in this collaborative project will identify important genetic elements in switchgrass that control survival over the winter and can be used to breed better adapted cultivars to meet biomass production needs,” noted Richard Triemer, chairperson of the plant biology department.

Buell hopes to identify alternative forms of the same gene that is responsible for cold hardiness by studying switchgrass’ genetic composition, These could then be applied in breeding programs for switchgrass that can thrive in northern climates.

advanced biofuels, feedstocks, Research

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDFGevo, Inc. has announced that it intends to offer and sell, subject to market and other conditions, common stock units. Each common stock unit will consist of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase a certain number of shares of common stock. The units are to be sold by Gevo subject to market and other conditions in an underwritten public offering. Gevo currently intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund capital to complete the side-by-side configuration of its Luverne, MN facility, to fund working capital and for other general corporate purposes.
  • The Solar Foundation has recognized community-owned solar developer Clean Energy Collective as a 2014 Solar Foundation Award recipient for exceptional work and dedication to advancing solar energy. Clean Energy Collective received the Industry Advancement Award for its innovative approach to community-owned solar.
  • San Carlos Solar Energy, Inc. was recently presented with the 2014 Philippines Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System Integrator of the Year award at the 2014 Frost & Sullivan Philippines Excellence Awards held on July 17, 2014 at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel, Manila. This award is presented to the company that has demonstrated excellence in the three key areas of demand generation, brand development and competitive positioning.
  • JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. has announced that China Development Bank International, the Macquarie Greater China Infrastructure Fund, a fund managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, and New Horizon Capital have agreed to invest a total of US $225 million in the company’s downstream solar power project business.
Bioenergy Bytes

New Jersey Home to First Energy Resilience Bank

Joanna Schroeder

New Jersey has created what they term the first of its kind in the U.S. “Energy Resilience Bank” (ERB) to focus on energy resilience. The bank was created in response to the impacts of SuperStorm Sandy where over 8 million people lost electric power in the region – many for several days. The ERB will provide $200 million for municipalities to finance clean resilient power solutions. Projects could include those that “would ensure a highly reliable power supply to critical public facilities such as water and wastewater treatment plants, hospitals, shelters, emergency response centers and transit networks in the event the larger electrical grid fails.”

New Jersey Disaster Recovery Action PlanOn July 23, 2014, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved a sub-recipient agreement with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to work jointly in the establishment and operation of the ERB. The ERB would be financed through use of $200 million of New Jersey’s second Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) allocation. According to the Governor Christie’s announcement, “the ERB will support the development of distributed energy resources at critical facilities throughout the state …to minimize the potential for future major power outages and increase energy resiliency.”

Clean Energy Group’s President, Lewis Milford, applauded the creation of the ERB. “New Jersey has created a model for all states to finance resilient power projects, to protect against power outages during severe weather events. The ERB is an important way for states to finance projects like solar with energy storage in food banks, fire stations, wastewater treatment plants, and schools. It deserves to be a national infrastructure finance model for states around the country.”

The Clean Energy Group is working with states and communities to help deploy more resilient power projects, and the organization cites financing as a remaining a key stumbling block. The New Jersey approach through the new ERB is a model that all states should consider as they deal with increasing problems of severe weather and the power system, problems that are only growing worse, according to Clean Energy Group.

Alternative energy, Clean Energy, Electricity

Free Webinar: Muncipal Solid Waste to BioProducts

Joanna Schroeder

Renewable-Waste-IntelligenceMunicipal solid waste is a big concern for cities around the world and many are discovering that they can make money from their waste. How? But converting the waste stream into biofuels and bioproducts. Yet a question that remains to be answered is where and when will this development play out and how are developers strategizing their business model to reach commercialization?

People can learn the answers to these questions by signing up for Renewable Waste Intelligence’s  free webinar, “The challenges of achieving a commercial scale MSW to biofuels and bio-products project“. The webinar will take place Thursday, August 7, 2014 at 10:30 am ET.

Speakers include experts from several of the country’s leading biofuels and bioproducts companies who will share their views on the unfolding project plans, how commercialization has been reached and how MSW can be used to produce a viable and green “drop in” solution for the biochemicals industry.

Speakers include:

  • Tim Cesarek, VP, Enerkem
  • Steve Csonka, Executive Director, CAAFI
  • Sadesh Sookraj, EVP, Novomer

For more information and to register click here.

advanced biofuels, biomaterials, Waste-to-Energy

DF Cast: Syngenta Helps Ethanol Infrastructure Efforts

John Davis

A company that is getting more ethanol out of corn is trying to get more infrastructure for higher blends of ethanol. Recently, Syngenta announced a new fund to help fuel retailers put in infrastructure to handle higher blends of ethanol from E15 to E85. The announcement was made at a NASCAR event, where fans have been able to witness just how good the higher blends are for engines.

In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we hear from Syngenta’s David Witherspoon and Growth Energy’s Kelly Manning, as they talk about the effort to get more ethanol infrastructure into gas stations and how Americans, especially NASCAR fans, have really come around to the green fuel.

Domestic Fuel Cast - Increasing Ethanol Blends

You can also subscribe to the DomesticFuel Cast here.

American Ethanol, Audio, corn, Domestic Fuel Cast, E15, E85, Enogen, Syngenta

SheerWind Offers INVELOX for Wind Power

Joanna Schroeder

There is a new technology available for wind power generation: INVELOX system. The new concept for wind power generation was developed by SheerWind and uses multiple turbines in a row or series to produce greater electrical power output. In essence, the INVELOX system is a large funnel that captures, concentrates and accelerates wind before devlivering it to turbines located at ground level, according to the company.

The company explains that by placing two turbines ina series, power increased by 1.7 times when compared to a single turbine. For example, one 1,000 kilowatt turbine-generator system in an INVELOX produces electrical energy for 341 homes, and two turbines operating in succession produces enough electricity to power 579 average sized homes.

“Because the INVELOX system directs and controls wind, we are able for the first time in history, to place multiple turbines together to produce more energy. This means a single INVELOX tower is able to increase its output— reducing cost per kilowatt— all without additional structure or land use,” said Cyndi Lesher, President of SheerWind “Increasing the ability to operate in areas never before feasible or economical with even less environmental impact.”

In addition, the company explains that because there are multiple turbines in a single INVELOX tower there is nearly no operational downtime because maintenance can be done on one turbine while the other continues energy production. With INVELOX, turbines are installed safely and conveniently at ground level, making maintenance less costly, safer and more efficient, according to SheerWind.

Electricity, Renewable Energy, Wind

Martifer Solar Completes Ukraine PV Project

Joanna Schroeder

Martifer Solar has completed a 8 MW solar power project in the Vinnytsia region of Ukraine. The project, known as Shargood, was developed during what the company said was amid complex political and economic events that occurred in the country. The Shargorod plant is located less than 300 km southwest of Kyiv in the Vinnytsia Oblast of Ukraine.

Martifer Solar completed the 8 MW PV plant on an area of approximately 160,000 m2, using 33,000 modules installed on fixed structures. The Shargorod plant is expected to produce an estimated 9.2 GWh/year. With Martifer Solar Ukraine Shargorod Solar Project.jpgthis production capacity, the project will offset 3,855 tons of carbon dioxide on an annual basis, which is sufficient energy to power more than 11,000 inhabitants in the Vinnytsia region per year.

“This new 8 MW plant is a significant achievement for the team as it strongly displays our company’s ability to adapt and manage complex projects under extreme conditions. In addition, this PV project is one of the first of its magnitude to satisfy the current local-content requirements in place within the country,” said Francisco Queirós, country manager for Martifer Solar in Ukraine. “We are proud to work closely in our partnership with Rengy Development to maximize the potential for solar development of the Ukrainian market.”

This new PV project is the sixth project which Martifer Solar has built in Ukraine for Rengy Development. In total, Martifer Solar now has a total portfolio of 29 MW of utility-scale PV implemented in the country dating back to August 2012.

Narek Harutyunyan, managing director of Rengy Development said of the new solar project, “As we maintain our investment and development of solar projects in Ukraine, we continue to rely on the strength and proven talent of Martifer Solar as a partner in the market. We have shared several success stories in the Ukrainian market and this 8 MW plant surpassed our expectations given the current situation in the country.”

Electricity, International, Solar

U.S. Biogas Producer Map Unveiled

Joanna Schroeder

The 2015 U.S. Biogas Producer Map and list is now available from Biomass Magazine. The online map plots the location and status of all U.S. biogas production from on-farm facilities and waste water treatment plants producing grid-connected bioenergy.

2015 Biomass Map“We’re very excited to take our first step towards bringing our biogas data and map offering to the same level our readers and audience enjoy in the biomass power, pellets, advanced biofuel, ethanol and biodiesel segments,” said Tim Portz, vice president of content and executive editor at BBI International, the publisher of the magazine. “Biogas is an exciting piece of the larger biomass-to-energy space that is experiencing great momentum right now.”

BBI said they are investing substantial resources into the project due to a lack of aggregated data on biogas production available to the public. According to Portz, “The biogas industry is a challenging one to get your arms around from a geospatial and data perspective. Digesters are deployed into so many different industrial and agricultural applications and they are capable of producing heat, power or vehicle fuels. They are unique in that way and drawing a box around which digesters to include was a challenge.”

The team at Biomass Magazine focused on creating a comprehensive and accurate dataset available for anyone looking to find information about biogas producers. “We decided two years ago that for an online map to be of any value, we had to move towards dropping the pin right on top of the facility,” added Portz. “For a long time, our online maps were like most of the others that are available. The pin was dropped on a zip code or a street address of an administrative office. We went through the effort to identify the exact latitudes and longitudes of each facility in the industries we cover and the difference is immediately apparent.”

The biogas producer map currently highlights on-farm digesters and wastewater treatment plants that deliver electricity to the grid. Over the course of the next several months Biomass Magazine will be adding community digesters and digesters that deliver a thermal load to industrial facilities such as breweries.

advanced biofuels, biomass

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDFThe Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has welcomed a new member: Hankinson Renewable Energy. The North Dakota ethanol facility employs 51 full time employees, producing 132 million gallons of ethanol and 400,000 tons of dried distillers grain with solubles each year.
  • Dyadic International, Inc. has announced the appointment of Thomas “Tom” Dubinski as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Dubinski will be responsible for leading the financial and information technology operations for Dyadic and will succeed Michael Faby effective August 4, 2014.
  • Growth Energy has welcomed Western New York Energy LLC as its newest member. Western New York Energy is located in Medina, N.Y. Western New York Energy LLC processes approximately 20 million bushels of corn into over 55 million gallons of ethanol annually, which is blended with gasoline throughout western New York. The facility also produces 160,000 tons of highly nutritious animal feed for the region.
  • Alcohol School 2014 is taking place in Montreal, Quebec September 14-19, 2014. The training is geared toward lab, plant and management personnel from fuel, beverage alcohol and allied industries. Courses are provided in English at a university level and are designed to educate delegates on proven technology and advances in fuel ethanol and distilled beverage production. Delegates have the opportunity to attend either Fuel or Distilled Beverage lectures. In its 34th year, the Alcohol School features leading industry scientists and academics, as well as Ethanol Technology Institute experts, including scientific director Dr. Graeme Walker, will direct lectures and laboratory demonstrations.
Bioenergy Bytes

Grassley Adds Biodiesel, Wind Amendments to Jobs Bill

John Davis

grassley-headA U.S. senator has filed amendments to a jobs bill that would renew the expired wind energy and biodiesel tax incentives… although he admits it could be just political posturing. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wants to add the renewals to the Bring Jobs Home Act, which he says really is just political messaging and not a serious jobs bill.

“I don’t expect to be allowed to offer my amendments because the Senate majority leader shuts out amendments from the Republican side,” Grassley said. “But I want to draw attention to the potential growth in a sector of the economy that’s right under our noses. This area could get a real boost if the majority in Congress chooses to act to restore these tax incentives.

“In fact, if the majority leader were really interested in jobs, he would devote floor time to debating and processing the pending bipartisan tax extenders legislation as it should be processed, in its entirety, to provide certainty to businesses and individuals alike. There’s no reason this tax relief legislation should be left to sit on the sidelines. Instead, it should be front and center in any effort to spur job-generating economic activity.”

Grassley had already secured renewal of the expired wind energy and biodiesel tax provisions, which expired at the beginning of this year, in a tax measure passed out of the Finance Committee back in April, but that bill is still awaiting action from the full Senate.

Biodiesel, Government, Legislation, Wind