The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that an elementary school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has won the annual Energy Star National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings. Teams from more than 3,000 buildings across the country spent the past year competing to obtain the greatest reduction in energy use. Claiborne Elementary School won by cutting its energy use nearly in half.- Locus Energy, a solar monitoring and analytics company, has announced that it has signed an agreement with Amicus Solar Cooperative to be its preferred vendor of solar monitoring hardware, software and solar data analytics.
- OneRoof Energy, Inc., has announced that Valerie Iwinski has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Operations. She will be charged with overseeing company operations, product development, logistics, customer service, and information technology (IT) systems.
- Victron Energy has announced the launch of EasySolar, an integrated, smart, total power solution. EasySolar combines an Ultra-fast BlueSolar charge controller (MPPT), an inverter/charger and AC distribution all in one enclosure.
DOE Issues Draft Renewable Energy Solicitation
The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a draft loan guarantee solicitation to identify innovative renewable energy and energy efficiency projects located in the U.S. The projects much avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gases. When finalized, the solicitation is 
expected to make as much as $4 billion in loan guarantees available to help commercialize technologies that may be unable to obtain full commercial financing.
“Through our existing renewable energy loan guarantees, the Department’s Loan Programs Office helped launch the U.S. utility-scale solar industry and other clean energy technologies that are now contributing to our clean energy portfolio,” said Secretary Ernest Moniz. “We want to replicate that success by focusing on technologies that are on the edge of commercial-scale deployment today.”
The Renewable Energy and Efficient Energy Projects Loan Guarantee solicitation is intended to support technologies that are catalytic, replicable, and market ready. Within the draft solicitation, the DOE has included a sample list illustrative of potential technologies for consideration. While any project that meets the eligibility requirements is eligible to apply, the Department has identified five key technology areas of interest: advanced grid integration and storage; drop-in biofuels; waste-to-energy; enhancement of existing facilities; and efficiency improvements.
The Department welcomes public comment on a range of issues and will consider public feedback in defining the scope of the final solicitation. In addition to initiating a 30-day public comment period, a schedule of public meetings will be posted on DOE’s website. The draft solicitation can be found online at http://lpo.energy.gov.
Biodiesel/Hybrid Car Achieves 100 MPG Equivalency
Florida students have put together a biodiesel and battery powered hybrid that gets the equivalent of a gas-powered car getting 100 miles to the gallon. This story from NPR station WFSU says the Embry-Riddle University students designed the car as part of the EcoCAR 2 challenge, a program sponsored by GM and the U.S. Department of Energy that has university teams compete to build a car that is both eco-friendly and commercially viable.
The goal is to re-engineer a 2013 Chevy Malibu to use less fuel and cut emissions without sacrificing performance. The Embry-Riddle team call themselves the ‘EcoEagles’. Their spokesman, Calvin Baker, says their vehicle solves the problem with batteries and bio-diesel.
“We have a series plug-in hybrid electric vehicle architecture,” Baker says. “It’s PHEV which means that we have an electric motor in the car, and then also a diesel engine.”
Baker says the batteries alone give their car a 35-45 mile range – plenty for the comings and goings of the average commuter.
“The diesel engine turns on when that range is depleted,” Baker says. “With a full five-gallon tank of biodiesel, and full battery charge the car has a 241 mile range.”
The EcoEagles are showing off the car around Florida, and in June, they’ll compete against other schools around the country in Michigan at the General Motors proving grounds.
Analysis: Surviving Without Biodiesel Tax Credit
While the expiration of the federal $1-per-gallon biodiesel tax credit (BTC) has been pretty tough on the industry this year, some biodiesel makers could survive without it. This analysis from The Motley Fool, a website that looks at investments, points to how biodiesel giant Renewable Energy Group and renderer and renewable diesel maker Darling International have business models that seem to make it possible, although not easy, to be successful without the credit that expired at the 2013.
REG, for example, anticipated the expiration and took that into account when doing their earnings forecast for the first quarter of 2014. And even while biodiesel production was even lower than the company anticipated, due to an abnormally cold winter that caused natural gas prices to spike, while feedstock costs rose and biodiesel prices fell, REG seems to be weathering the storm.
The silver lining is that Renewable Energy Group was able to produce positive adjusted EBITDA despite a barrage of unfavorable conditions. That can be chalked up to the company’s commitment to operational efficiency derived from willingness to invest in a national logistics network and the best process technology. And, of course, management’s focus on the long term.
Darling International is not focused solely on producing renewable fuels, but has taken advantage of its leading rendering business (animal fats and used cooking greases, or the inputs for diesel) to create the Diamond Green Diesel joint venture. Renewable diesel is a hydrocarbon, has a different molecular structure than biodiesel, and can capture higher RIN values as a next-generation fuel. Despite the advantages, it is still blended into the existing petroleum-based fuel supply, and therefore benefits from the BTC. Luckily, Darling International’s diverse business structure has insulated it from the expiration of the credit. In fact, the company has benefited from the increase in feedstocks since the end of last year.
The article goes on to say that while the return of the tax credit would be good news for REG and Darling, and of course, other biodiesel makers, at least these two companies show you could survive without the credit. In addition, the authors say this short-term uncertainty for biodiesel might present a great buying and investing opportunity if you’re looking at the long term.
BayWa Commissioned Solar Farm in Great Britain
BayWa r.e. has commissioned its fourth solar farm, Whitland, in Great Britain. Despite the continual bad weather, the project team were able to construct and commission the 18 MWp solar plant in only nine weeks.
Matthias Taft, Managing Director of BayWa r.e., said of the project, “The rapid implementation of the Whitland solar farm shows that our project team and technical know-how put us in an excellent position. This enables us to finance even larger projects without difficulties. This in turn ensures commissioning on time. Together, this results in a dynamic and economical project implementation at every project stage – from engineering and construction to the ultimate project sale to institutional investors.”
The Whitland solar farm was established on a 28 hectare in the Welsh village of the same name. It comprises 69,000 polycrystalline modules on freestanding supports. Annually, this plant will generate around 17 million kWh green power and can cover the electricity demand of around 5,000 households. Apart from completed projects, BayWa r.e. has significant projects in the pipeline for Great Britain.
A New Option to Finance: Clean Energy Bonds
The Clean Energy Group, the Brookings Institution and the Council of Development Finance Agencies have released a paper on a powerful but underutilized tool for future clean energy investment: state and local bond finance. The report, “Clean Energy Finance through the Bond Market: A New Option for Progress,” find that as Federal clean energy subsidies 
decrease, agencies that issue public finance bonds are willing to finance renewable energy and efficiency projects. However, the report says, the clean energy community must embrace the bonds as a new finance tool.
According to the report development agencies are only experimenting with clean energy bonds. However, the bond finance community has accumulated significant experience in getting project finance to scale and knows how to raise large amounts of needed capital by selling bonds to Wall Street. The challenge, then, is to create new models for clean energy bond finance in states, and to establish a new clean energy asset class that can easily be traded in capital markets.
With this in mind, the report argues that state and local bonding authorities and others to do the following:
- Establish mutually useful partnerships between development finance experts and clean energy officials at the state and local government levels.
- Expand and scale up bond-financed clean energy projects using credit enhancement and other emerging tools to mitigate risk and through demonstration projects.
- Improve availability of data and develop standardized documentation so that the risks and rewards of clean energy investments can be better understood.
- Create a pipeline of rated and private placement deals, a new clean energy asset class, to meet the demand by institutional investors for fixed-income clean energy securities.
“Another report issued this week from the global scientific community at IPCC underscores the urgency of finding new ways to finance no-carbon technologies at massive scale,” said Lewis Milford, president of CEG and co-author of the report. “We need to finance clean energy the same way we have financed large public infrastructure projects and make sound investments that will benefit generations with low bond rates for new, clean energy generation. Our current way of financing clean energy not only makes it too expensive, but it simply cannot meet climate mitigation and adaptation demands in the next few decades.”
BioEnergy Bytes
Farmer owned, Siouxland Energy Livestock Cooperative have announced that the Board of Directors has approved the name change to Siouxland Energy Corporation. Along with the name change, a new logo was developed. - Dr Martin Read CBE has been appointed as Chair of the CFD Counterparty Company by Energy and Climate Change Secretary of State, Edward Davey. The CFD Counterparty Company is a new Government-owned company being established as part of Government’s Electricity Market Reform. Dr Martin Read will be supported in this three year role by Jim Keohane, as the Senior Independent Director (SID). The two appointees will also take on the Chair and SID positions of the Electricity Settlements Company when it is established.
- The Offshore Wind China Conference & Exhibition, the Wind Farm O&M China Conference & Exhibition and Distributed Generation China will take place concurrently at Shanghai Mart in Shanghai July 2-4, 2014. Registration for all three events is open.
- Trina Solar Limited has announced two of its PV power plants in the United Kingdom have successfully completed connection to the grid. The company is an investor in and sole project developer for these projects, which have a total capacity of 23.77 MW. The two projects were developed using Trina PC05A 255Wp modules and will receive 1.6 Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs), equivalent to GBP 42.02 per megawatt-hour (MWh). They are expected to generate 24,673MWh electricity annually.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells Soon to Power Forklifts
Forklifts may soon be powered by zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell systems. Research being conducted by Sandia National Laboratory and Hawaii Hydrogen Carriers (HHC) are looking to design a solid-state hydrogen storage system that can refuel at low pressure four to five times faster than it takes to charge a battery-powered forklift, a $33 billion market in 2013 according to Pell Research. The researchers say this technology would give hydrogen a competitive advantage over batteries.
Dino Vournas, Sandia National Labs
“Once you understand how these forklifts operate, the fuel cell advantage is clear,” said Sandia’s project manager Joe Pratt.
Pratt explains that refueling hydrogen fuel cell powered forklifts takes less than three minutes compared to the hours of recharging needed for battery-powered forklifts. In addition, fuel cell-powered forklifts are able to operate continuously for eight or more hours between fills. Whereas today companies using battery-powered forklifts need to purchase three battery packs for each forklift to ensure continuous operation. They also need to set aside warehouse space for battery recharging.
Sandia has worked with the fuel cell forklift industry for several years to help get clean, efficient and cost effective fuel cell systems to market faster. Standards developed by Sandia soon will be published so industry can develop new, high-performing hydrogen fuel systems for industrial trucks.
Intrigued by the potential benefits of fuel cells over the electric batteries that now power most forklifts, HHC obtained a grant from the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and asked Pratt to help improve the design of a hydrogen storage system for fuel cells.
Pratt has spearheaded other Sandia efforts to introduce hydrogen systems into the marketplace. He served as technical lead, for instance, for studies on the use of fuel cells to power construction equipment, personal electronic devices, auxiliary equipment and portable generators. Most recently, he led a study and subsequent demonstration project on commercial use of hydrogen fuel cells to provide power at ports.
HHC is developing technologies for the fuel cell forklift market and expects cost reductions and performance improvements that will help the market grow. The company is developing a low-pressure hydrogen storage system that can be refueled at standard industrial gas pressures. This technology should reduce fuel system cost and expand the market to facilities that can’t accommodate conventional high-pressure fueling systems.
Biofuel Groups Oppose RFS Delay Request
Leading biofuel industry groups are opposing a delay requested by petroleum industry in a 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard case.
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and Growth Energy together filed a joint response yesterday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in opposition to the American Petroleum Institute’s and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers’ motion to “sever and hold in abeyance their challenge to the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard” that was filed on Friday. The case is Monroe Energy, LLC v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, which was argued before the Court on April 7.
As the groups explained in their response to the motion, “Respondent-Intervenors Biotechnology Industry Organization, Growth Energy, and Renewable Fuels Association oppose the motion to sever API and AFPM’s petitions and place them in abeyance. The petitions have been fully briefed, responded to, and argued. No purpose is served by pulling API and AFPM’s petitions back a week after argument, to hold them indefinitely and consolidate them with hypothetical later-filed petitions.”
Incbio Delivers Biodiesel Plant for Tunisia
Portuguese biodiesel equipment maker Incbio has delivered an 8,000MT per year Biodiesel plant to Tunisia. This company news release says Biokast Energy will operate the fully automated industrial ultrasonic biodiesel plant in North Africa.
It uses Incbio’s ultrasonic reactors to produce EN14214 Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil (UCO), collected from restaurants in Tunis. This will be one of the most advanced and efficient transesterification plants in the world, employing as three most important design parameters which form the base for Incbio’s technology: small footprint, low cost and high efficiency, which is both innovative and widely proven in Biodiesel production plants globally.
The plant is fully built on skids, so it should take less than a week from the time it arrives until it is producing biodiesel.