Farm Economy Vs. Overall Economy

Talia Goes

New Holland ZimmPollOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What’s best in the new farm bill?” More than a third of our respondents agree that crop insurance tops the charts, along with nothing. We see a bit of an oxymoron there!

Our poll results:

  • Crop insurance – 31.25%
  • None – 31.25%
  • Conservation – 9.38%
  • Rural Development – 9.38%
  • Energy – 6.25%
  • Specialty Crops – 6.25%
  • Forestry – 3.13%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “ How does farm economy compare to general U.S.?”

USDA is predicting lower net farm income this year after big gains in 2013 and overall the U.S. economy still appears to be sluggish. But as the farm show season is in full swing and farmers are looking ahead to spring planting, optimism is in the air. How do you think the farm economy looks compared to the general U.S. economy overall? Let us know.

ZimmPoll

Senators Introduce Bill to Reinstate Biodiesel Tax Incentive

Joanna Schroeder

Sens Cantwell and GrassleySenators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) have introduced a bill to extend the expired biodiesel tax incentive for three years. The bill, S. 2021, would extend the tax incentive until 2017.

In response to the bill’s introduction, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) called on Congress to move swiftly on the tax legislation.

“On behalf of biodiesel producers across the country, we want to thank Sens. Cantwell and Grassley for their leadership on this issue,” said NBB Vice President of Federal Affairs Anne Steckel. “The biodiesel tax incentive has expired three times over the past five years, and each time it has severely disrupted production. By comparison, we know that at least $4 billion in incentives encouraging domestic petroleum production are built into the tax code. We need that same kind of stability for younger, cleaner industries like biodiesel and renewable diesel to compete.”

“This incentive clearly stimulates production and creates jobs at biodiesel plants across the country, and we urge the leadership of both parties to quickly take up this bill to ensure that we can continue the momentum that the biodiesel industry built last year with record production of almost 1.8 billion gallons,” Steckel added.

The $1-per-gallon incentive covers biodiesel, renewable diesel – a similar diesel alternative made with a different technology – and renewable aviation fuel. First implemented in 2005, it expired on Dec. 31, 2013. It also was allowed to lapse in 2012 and 2010. The bill would extend the tax incentive until 2017, providing the tax certainty the industry needs to gain access to capital and plan for production expansions and additional hiring.

advanced biofuels, Biodiesel, NBB

Crescent Solar Energy Project Commissioned

Joanna Schroeder

SolarReserve has confirmed that the 110 megawatt (MW) Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project located near Tonopah, Nevada, has entered the plant commissioning phase. According to the company, Crescent Dunes is the first utility-scale facility in the world to feature advanced molten salt power tower energy storage capabilities. The Crescent Dunes Project is more than five times the capacity output of pilot projects that have previously tested this technology.

Due to the result of the advanced energy storage technology, the 110 MW project will generate more than 500,000 megawatt-hours per year, enough to power 75,000 homes during peak electricity periods. This annual output, says the company, is more than twice that of other technologies per MW of capacity, such as photovoltaics (PV) or direct steam solar thermal. The storage technology also eliminates the need for any backup fossil fuels, such as natural gas, which are needed with other technologies to keep the system going during times of no or low solar resource. Nevada’s largest electric utility, NV Energy, will purchase 100 percent of the electricity generated, under a 25-year power purchase agreemenSOLARRESERVE CRESCENT DUNESt. Full commercial operation is scheduled for later in 2014.

Commissioning is the initial stage of bringing the project into operations and includes system-by-system verification and startup, as well as equipment calibration and testing. Commissioning activities underway at Crescent Dunes include energization of the utility interconnection system and other electrical systems, as well as the first stages of testing and calibration of the heliostat field. This heliostat field is comprised of more than 10,000 “billboard-sized” mirrors that track the sun and total more than 1 million square meters of glass.

“Start of commissioning of the Crescent Dunes solar power plant marks a critical milestone for the project as well as the solar industry. We are now able to build utility-scale power plants, fueled only by the sun, which operate on-demand, day and night, just like traditional fossil fuel or nuclear power plants,” said SolarReserve’s CEO Kevin Smith. “SolarReserve’s industry-leading solar thermal energy storage technology solves the intermittency issue that limits the use of other renewable energy projects and thus enables firm, reliable delivery of electricity whether or not the sun is shining or the wind is blowing.”

SolarReserve’s energy storage technology at the Crescent Dunes plant is their techology showcase. They say it is a realistic solar energy solution that operates day and night like coal, natural gas, oil, diesel and nuclear plants, but without the harmful emissions or hazardous wastes associated those traditional plants. Additionally, Crescent Dunes includes the capability to dry cool the steam cycle, an environmentally friendly low water use feature that will saves millions of gallons of water each year. Once operational, the 110 MW Crescent Dunes plant will be the world’s largest solar thermal plant with fully integrated energy storage.

Alternative energy, Electricity, Energy Storage, Solar

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDFJinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. has announced that it has supplied solar PV modules to CSEM-uae, an independent, non-profit Swiss-UAE joint venture company for applied research. The modules will be used for CSEM’s Solar Outdoor Laboratory, an R&D and innovation center for renewable energy in Ras al-Khaimah, UAE. Located in the northern Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah and built to develop and test competitive solar energy solutions for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf market, the project has been operating since September, 2013.
  • Lignol Energy Corporation has announced the signing of a formal Memorandum of Understanding between Milio International and LEC’s subsidiary, Territory Biofuels Limited, for the development of a joint venture. Under the terms of the planned JV, it is anticipated that Milio will fund up to 120,000 tons of feedstock per year as well as facilitate the marketing and sales of the production from TBF’s 140 million litre per year biodiesel plant located in Darwin, Australia. At full production capacity this funding is expected to provide working capital funding of approximately US$25 million.
  • FirstEnergy Corp. has completed the sale of 11 hydroelectric power stations to Harbor Hydro Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of LS Power Equity Partners II, LP, for approximately $395 million. The two companies originally announced the sales agreement in September 2013.
  • Results of a third-party peer-reviewed life cycle assessment (LCA), Greenhouse Gas and Energy Life Cycle Assessment of Pine Chemicals Derived from Crude Tall Oil and Their Substitutes, found that diverting Crude Tall Oil (CTO) into biofuel production in Europe will not have a significant effect in either reducing carbon emissions nor fossil fuel consumption. CTO is a sustainable raw material that has been used in biorefining to produce pine chemicals for decades.
Bioenergy Bytes

U.S. Utlility-Scale Solar 60% to Goal

Joanna Schroeder

The U.S. solar industry is more than 60 percent of the way to achieving cost-competitive utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity – only three years into the Department’s decade-long SunShot Initiative, reports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). To help continue this progress, the DOE announced $25 million in new funding to strengthen U.S. solar manufacturing for photovoltaic and concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies and to maintain a strong domestic solar industry – supporting the Department’s broader Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative.

Falling Price of US Utility Solar CostsThe U.S. is playing a growing role as a global leader in solar as demonstrated in a new industry report which recently found that U.S. utility-scale solar set a record with 2.3 gigawatts installed in 2013.  As a direct result of increased solar generation, over the last three years, the cost of a solar energy system has dropped by more than 50 percent, helping to give more and more American families and businesses access to affordable, clean energy.

“In just the last few years, the U.S. has seen remarkable increases in clean and renewable energy – doubling the amount of energy that we produce from solar and wind and supporting a strong, competitive solar supply chain that employs American workers in every state,” said Energy Secretary Moniz. “To continue this growth and position the U.S. as a global leader in clean energy innovation, the Energy Department is helping to advance new technologies that further reduce costs, improve performance and support new jobs and businesses across the country.”

In 2011, DOE launched its SunShot Initiative to make solar energy cost-competitive with traditional energy sources by the end of the decade. As a result of the program, today, the utility-scale PV industry is more than 60 percent of the way to achieving SunShot’s target of $0.06 per kilowatt-hour. In the United States, the average price for a utility-scale PV project has dropped from about $0.21 per kilowatt-hour in 2010 to $0.11 per kilowatt-hour at the end of 2013. According to the Energy Information Administration, the average U.S. electricity price is about $0.12 per kilowatt-hour.

Reductions in the cost of electricity are based on estimates of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The LCOE is a measure of the national average of electricity cost based on certain assumptions regarding financing costs and generation availability projected over the life of a generating asset. The LCOE model provides a benchmark for measuring relative changes in electricity costs.

Alternative energy, Clean Energy, Electricity, Solar

Clean Energy for Resilient Communities

Joanna Schroeder

“Resilient communities need resilient power. Without dependable power, a community can be brought to its knees, and the most vulnerable will suffer the most,” was written in a new report, Clean Energy for Resilient Communities. Based on the success of Baltimore, the report is a blueprint for how a city could become more “power resilient” and details how cities use clean energy to create a more reliable electric system – especially during severe weather events.

To way to achieve this, finds the report commission by the Clean Energy Group (CEG), is to rely on proven distributed energy technologies like solar with energy storage to protect consumers during power outages.

Clean Energy for Resilient Communities“We have entered a new “normal” after Hurricane Sandy, where severe weather events are more frequent, leading to more power outages and increased risk to people and businesses,” said Lewis Milford, President of CEG and co-author of the report. “Last week over a million people in the U.S. lost power during damaging ice storms. Today, due to a record ice storm developing in the Southeastern U.S., hundreds of thousands of people have already lost power, with those numbers expected to rise. We need new strategies like distributed solar with energy storage to protect communities against the harmful effects of power outages. Relying only on the utilities to do the job is no longer safe or dependable.”

CEG said the report is the first in-depth review of national policies and finance strategies to use solar and energy storage to provide more power protection in an urban setting. The report finds that critical public facilities like hospitals, fire stations, gas stations, community shelters and schools should use more resilient power technologies to protect people during power outages. The report also recommends new business models and highlights the emergence of companies that now sell solar with battery storage services to customers– to address the overlooked problem of stand-alone PV systems not working during power outages.

The report recommends:

  • Deploy solar with storage at critical community and government facilities that serve low-income, disabled and elderly communities during emergencies.
  • Promote targeted public funds to increase the use of clean energy in those communities.
  • Use existing bond financing tools to finance solar projects in public and community facilities like schools, community centers and senior housing.
  • Address the existing legal obligations of government agencies under the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide electricity so the elderly and the disabled can fully access emergency services during power outages.
Clean Energy, Electricity, Solar

Rep. Loebsack Introduces Infrastructure Re-FUEL Act

Joanna Schroeder

Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-IA) has introduced the Renewable Fuel Utilization, Expansion, and Leadership (Re-FUEL) Act. The goal of the legislation is to create a competitive grant program to assist fuel retailers with investments in renewable and alternative fuel/energy sources. The program would be administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and will help create new and retrofit existing infrastructure, including pumps for biofuels and hydrogen, tanks, piping and electric vehicle chargers. Loebsack points out that the legislation is already paid for and does not add to the deficit.

made in the usa“I believe in making things in America and there is no reason our fuel sources shouldn’t be made here as well,” said Rep. Loebsack. “It’s also important that consumers are able to choose where their fuel source comes from when they go to fill up. Too often, infrastructure constraints are cited as the reason for not giving consumers the choices they deserve. This holds back the development of our renewable and alternative energy sources that create jobs in Iowa and across the country.”

To be eligible for the grant, projects must be capable of dispensing fuel or energy currently not widely available. Projects can be new infrastructure projects or retrofits to existing infrastructure and can include infrastructure such as biofuel and hydrogen pumps, tanks, piping, and electric vehicle chargers. A minimum of 30 percent non-federal match is required and the maximum grant per year per entity is $100,000. In addition, the grant program covers infrastructure for renewable or alternative energy, which includes renewable energy, energy for charging electric vehicles, and hydrogen and fuel cells.

“I commend Congressman Loebsack for introducing legislation that supports America’s consumers, rural communities and growing biofuels industry,” said Tom Buis CEO of Growth Energy. “By supporting renewable fuel infrastructure, this legislation will help push our nation toward energy independence and give consumers some much needed choice and savings at the pump. This legislation also emphasizes the importance of investing in and revitalizing rural America.”

The Re-FUEL Act does not add to the federal deficit. The program would be paid for by setting aside 1 percent of offshore oil royalties each fiscal year. This amounted to about $54.34 million in fiscal year 2013 and $52.16 million in fiscal year 2012. In addition, no other required disbursements from natural resources accounts such as those for state sharing, reclamation fund, or Land and Water Conservation Fund will be affected.

“The pace at which the renewable fuel advantages will be available to American drivers is greatly sped up by the fact that the proposed grants can be used for infrastructure like new blender pumps as well as retrofitting existing pumps, pipes, tanks and chargers,” said Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association. “Placing a priority on rural America is a welcomed approach. The small communities of rural America are amongst the most challenging locations for economic development. Rep. Loebsack recognizes that ethanol production has created and supports over 386,000 jobs with very real potential to expand on that success.”

Alternative energy, biofuels, Electric Vehicles, Growth Energy, Hydrogen, Legislation, RFA

Biodiesel Giant Gets Into Petroleum Distribution

John Davis

REG LogoThe country’s biggest biodiesel maker is getting into the petroleum distribution business. This news release from Renewable Energy Group (REG) says it has launched a new division that will sell petroleum-based heating oil and diesel fuel, which will also give the company a chance to offer more biofuel blends.

REG Energy Services, LLC will sell heating oil and ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) at seven terminals throughout the northeastern U.S. as well as BioHeat® blended heating fuel at an existing REG terminal location.

“REG Energy Services complements our advanced biofuel business as we optimize and grow our fully integrated biodiesel business across North America,” said REG President and CEO, Daniel J. Oh. “It allows us to offer more products to our customers, including more biofuel blends, while also expanding our customer base.”

The new company will be regionally headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and led by Barry Knox, a long-time downstream petroleum distribution specialist. Before joining REG, Knox served the last 14 years as Chief Operating Officer at Total Energy Solutions, LLC. Knox just completed his term as a board member of the New England Fuel Institute (NEFI), and the Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association (formerly MOC), and was also a board member of the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA).

REG Energy Services is now offers heating oil and ULSD at several terminals in New England and has BioHeat in up to 20 percent biodiesel blends at REG’s location at the Clifton, NJ Dutch Hill terminal.

Biodiesel, REG

Heliae Algae Techology Headed to ASU

Joanna Schroeder

Heliae’s algae production technology is heading to Arizona State University’s (ASU) algae testbed facility. The company is partnering with SCHOTT North America to install a Helix photobioreactor at ASU’s Department of Energy (DOE)-funded algae testbed facility.

Over the next several years, algae research staff at ASU will leverage the Helix photobioreactor, built by Heliae, for pioneering research that will forward the understanding of algae production technology, including an investigation into the effect of glass tubing innovation on the yields and economics of algae production. The reactor will also deliver the production of high-quality algae cultures, which will support broader ASU algae operations.

azcati_testbed_facility_at_asuThe DOE-sponsored testbed at ASU is part of the Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership (ATP3), a network of algae industry leaders, national labs, and research facilities. Led by ASU, ATP3 enables both researchers and third party companies to succeed in their algal endeavors by providing a national network of testbed systems and other services, such as research and education.

Over the course of the multi-year research plan, ASU will manage Helix operations and research, while Heliae and SCHOTT will support the project in an advisory capacity.

“To develop world-class technology, it’s essential to partner and collaborate with the best innovators in the industry,” said Dan Simon, Heliae’s president and CEO. “For glass innovation, there is no equal to SCHOTT, and the interactions between Heliae’s and SCHOTT’s research and development teams over the years have helped both companies develop world-class technology that will truly enable this industry.”Read More

advanced biofuels, algae, Research

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDFNew analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Power Infrastructure Tracker in East Africa, finds that the demand for electricity in East Africa is expected to grow at approximately 5.3 percent per year till 2020. To meet these requirements, generation capacity would have to increase by 37.7 percent in Uganda, 96.4 percent in Kenya, 75.3 percent in Tanzania and 115 percent in Rwanda.
  • Calling it “critically important,” the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) applauded “commence construction” legislation introduced by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV). Their bipartisan legislation would allow America’s solar energy companies to make full and effective use of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC). The bipartisan legislation would allow companies to qualify for the ITC if their projects are under construction before the law’s expiration date at the end of 2016.
  • Clean Energy Pipeline, the specialist online financial news, data and research provider, is currently compiling data for inclusion in its fifth annual global renewable energy M&A report, and is seeking insight from key industry stakeholders. The 2014 report will explore a number of themes, including how M&A activity will evolve over the next 18 months, how valuation multiples have fluctuated, the availability of financing for M&A transactions and the potential impact of policy change on the global renewable energy market.
  • The Sierra Club has released a new report, “Workers, Communities, and the Clean Energy Economy,” laying out a vision for workers in the transition to a clean energy economy. The report highlights opportunities brought on by the exponential growth of clean energy sources like wind and solar; calls for a just and fair transition for workers and families as communities transition from fossil fuels to clean energy; and focuses on the shared vision between working families and environmentalists for a healthier, safer, and more prosperous future.
Bioenergy Bytes