Whikehart to Keynote National Ethanol Conference

John Davis

whikehartThe man in charge of Marathon Petroleum Company‘s biofuels supply chain will deliver the keynote address for next month’s National Ethanol Conference in Orlando, Fla. The Renewable Fuels Association announced David Whikehart, Director of Product Supply and Optimization at Marathon, will speak at the conference on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 8:45 a.m. EST.

“David will be able to provide the NEC audience with a very unique perspective of the policy and marketing forces affecting the ethanol industry today. His responsibilities at Marathon place him at the nexus of ethanol production and gasoline refining. He understands the value of ethanol to refiners and the role of consumers in determining fuel choices at the pump,” said Bob Dinneen, President and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association. “I think it is critical that we be open to the message of our customer, and I am very grateful to have David join us and look forward to hearing his thoughts on future trends and policies affecting the U.S. gasoline market.”

You can still register for the RFA’s 19th annual National Ethanol Conference, where the theme is “Falling Walls, Rising Tides.” Early bird discounts apply through Jan. 24. Click here for registration and more information.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, RFA

Connecticut City Installs Kyocera Solar Panels

John Davis

kyoceraSolar panels with the ability to offset the power needs of 5,000 homes have been installed in a city in Connecticut. Kyocera announced the 5-megawatt AC (7.4MW DC) project in Somers, Conn.

“Kyocera solar modules have earned a reputation for being some of the most efficient and reliable in the industry, built on our 38 years of experience in manufacturing photovoltaic energy solutions,” said Steve Hill, president of Kyocera Solar Inc. “Based on that history, we know Kyocera modules can be counted on to continue yielding high energy output for the 20-year agreement and beyond, serving Somers Solar Center and the people of Connecticut well.”

The system’s solar modules offer an effective way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which scientists regard as a primary contributor to climate change. Somers Solar Center will produce more than 10,200 megawatt-hours (MWh) of clean, renewable electricity annually, with a carbon impact equal to reducing oil consumption by 16,779 barrels ― or taking 1,503 cars off the road.

Kyocera boasts this new status as a U.S. solar project developer to follow the company’s lead in Japan, where it owns and operates a 70MW solar installation and will soon be adding another 30 to 35 additional smaller-scale solar projects providing an additional 60 to 70MW of renewable generating capacity. This past November, Kyocera opened a 1.6MW solar energy project at a school in Phoenix, Ariz. that will offset more than 60 percent of the school district’s annual electricity consumption.

Solar

Congress in No Hurry to Renew Biodiesel Tax Credit

John Davis

us-capitol-fiscal-cliff-voteCongress seems to be in no hurry to renew the $1-a-gallon federal biodiesel tax credit. And this analysis from Bloomberg BNA indicates that the biodiesel credit, as well as some other renewable energy credits, won’t come until later this year but at least will be applied retroactively.

“I think Congress has gotten over the idea that the world will stop spinning if they don’t rush back and do extenders,” said [John Gimigliano, principal in charge of the energy sustainability group in KPMG’s Washington national tax practice], who previously served as senior tax counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee.

While Gimigliano said quickly passing legislation on tax extenders will be “very difficult,” he said Congress would be likely to approve a legislative package in 2014 that extends the expiring provisions retroactively.

Any interest in moving quickly on tax extenders is likely to come from the Senate, where Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, has said committee staff from both parties have started the process of developing extenders legislation.

One legislative vehicle probably would be a bill needed possibly in March to extend the debt ceiling, although Congress may wait until after the November elections to act, analysts said.

Another thing bogging down the renewal of the credit is the nomination of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to become U.S. ambassador to China. Some analysts believe it might not be until the November elections before the biodiesel credit is renewed.

Biodiesel, Government, Legislation

Corn Stocks and Ethanol Use Increased

Cindy Zimmerman

USDA-LogoThe newest supply and demand estimate from the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirms a record corn harvest in 2013 of just under 14 billion bushels and an increased in usage of corn for ethanol.

USDA’s World Agricultural Supply Demand Estimate for January 10 projects corn use for 2013/14 higher with feed and residual use projected up 100 million bushels based on September-November disappearance as indicated by the December 1 stocks estimate. “Corn used to produce ethanol is raised 50 million bushels reflecting continued strong weekly ethanol production, a reduction in expected sorghum use for ethanol, and higher forecast 2014 gasoline consumption in the latest projections from the Energy Information Administration.”

RFA-logo-13
Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Bob Dinneen says the report’s numbers indicate that now is a bad time to reduce volume requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). “Due to the expected corn surplus, corn prices have already dropped to nearly $4.00/bushel – half the price of corn in late summer 2012, below the price of corn when EISA was signed into law in 2007, and below the farmer’s cost of production,” Dinneen said in a statement, adding that farmers, small businesses and innovation in next generation biofuels would be adversely impacted by lowering the RFS in 2014. “It doesn’t have to be this way, there is still time for the Obama White House and EPA to do the right thing and restore the numbers for ethanol to their statutory levels.”

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA, RFS, USDA

EIA Seeks Renewable Energy Comments

Joanna Schroeder

eiaThe U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is seeking input on proposed changes to electric power and renewable energy data surveys. EIA is soliciting comments on the proposed changes in a Federal Register Notice.

The proposed changes involve the following surveys:
• Form EIA-63B, Annual Photovoltaic Cell/Module Shipments Report
• Form EIA-411, Coordinated Bulk Power Supply Program Report
• Form EIA-826, Monthly Electric Utility Sales and Revenue Report with State

Distributions
• Form EIA-860, Annual Electric Generator Report
• Form EIA-860M, Monthly Update to the Annual Electric Generator Report
• Form EIA-861, Annual Electric Power Industry Report
• Form EIA-861S, Annual Electric Power Industry Report (Short Form)
• Form EIA-923, Power Plant Operations Report
• Form EIA-930, Hourly and Daily Balancing Authority Operations Report

The proposals were announced to the public via a Federal Register Notice (FRN) published March 6, 2013. Interested parties were given 60 days to submit their comments. EIA received comments from 44 organizations or individuals. EIA reviewed all comments and made certain changes to the original proposals in response to the comments. EIA’s responses to comments can be found in the Supporting Statement posted at EIA’s 2014 Forms Changes webpage.

As part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance process, a second Federal Register Notice was published on Tuesday, December 24, 2013. The publication of this notice opens a second and final comment period that is open for 30 days. Written comments are due by Thursday, January 23, 2014.

Alternative energy, Electricity, Renewable Energy

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDFThe Board of Directors of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) announced today that Michael R. Brower has been appointed the new President and CEO of the organization. Brower served as the Interim President and CEO since July 29, 2013.
  • Clive Maxwell, Chief Executive of the Office of Fair Trading, has been appointed Director General of DECC’s Consumers and Households Group, which is responsible for the Government’s key projects in improving energy efficiency and helping business and domestic energy users obtain the lowest possible bills. The appointment comes as DECC engages in a major programme of improvements for consumers under energy efficiency schemes such as the Energy Company Obligation and Green Deal, as well as working closely with the energy industry to maximise choice for customers.
  • Greenbelt Resources Corporation an innovator of sustainable energy production systems, today announced patent protection filing for its proprietary ethanol-water separation membrane module technology on behalf of its subsidiary Diversified Ethanol Corporation. The patent-pending system utilizes the Hitachi-Zosen membrane known for purifying a number of liquids and gases including ethanol and other organic solvents.
  • India plans an agency to oversee the development of offshore wind farms as the country’s best sites on land fill up, prompting it to promote projects at sea. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will seek cabinet approval soon to set up the agency, the government said today in a statement, citing Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah. India is already Asia’s biggest wind-turbine market after China in terms of annual installations. The country has built 20 gigawatts of projects onshore, drawing about $16.5 billion a year in investment.
Bioenergy Bytes

Radio Disney Dumps Dirty Energy Road Show

Joanna Schroeder

Climate Parents has announced that after more than 100,000 people signed petitions the organization began, Radio Disney announced it will withdraw from a controversial program that promotes fossil fuel extraction to school-age children in Ohio. Climate Parents is a national organization comprised of parents taking action on climate change.

“We are pleased that Disney responded to our request to stop promoting oil and gas extraction to kids in Ohio,” said Lisa Hoyos, Founder and Director of Climate Parents. OOGEEP_FB1However, Disney engages schools all over the country on energy education, and we remain deeply concerned that the company has no policy in place prevent this from happening again.”

Climate Parents worked closely with their partners at CREDO Action, who helped gather more than 80,000 petition signatures on Credo Mobilize.com. In addition to working with CREDO Mobilize, Climate Parents also hosted petitions on MoveOn.org and Change.org to gather more than 100,000 signatures and generate hundreds of social media posts.

“There’s no place for fracking in the Magic Kingdom,” said said Zack Malitz, CREDO’s Campaign Manager. “Disney has done the right thing by refusing to use its brand to promote dirty energy, and it needs to go further say it will never again partner with oil and gas industry groups to produce Disney-themed dirty energy propaganda for children.”

The program Climate Parents was opposed to was called “Rocking in Ohio,” a road show the Ohio Oil and Gas Association created in partnership with Radio Disney. The program engaged school kids in a “game show” type activities that celebrated oil and gas extraction.

“The response has been overwhelming,” said Hoyos. “People from all over the country have spoken out against Radio Disney’s promotion of dirty energy in Ohio. But until Disney takes that commitment nationwide, we will continue to mobilize parents and families to ensure that Disney only promotes kid-safe, climate-safe energy.”

Climate Change, Environment, Oil

Texas City to Restart Biodiesel Plant at Landfill

John Davis

dentonDenton, Texas will restart an idled biodiesel plant at the town’s landfill. This article from the Denton Record-Chronicle says the city council agreed to allow American Bio Source to lease the plant and give the city nearly one cent per gallon in royalties for the biodiesel it produces.

After originally signing a contract for a public-private partnership with a California biodiesel company in 2004, the city opened the $3 million facility the following year to great fanfare.

The plant was the first fully renewable biodiesel manufacturing plant in the country, powered by methane gas extracted from the landfill. Through the contract, the city had also pledged to purchase at least 300,000 gallons of biodiesel each year to fuel its garbage trucks, service trucks, buses and other equipment. But the plant closed abruptly in 2008 and the city sued the company for breach of contract, later settling after the California company agreed to pay the city $650,000.

Since then, the city has begun replacing some of its fleet with trucks powered by natural gas.

City officials say this is a good deal financially for the town, as well as good for the environment.

Biodiesel

Biodiesel to Help Heat Up NYC Super Bowl

John Davis

tsb-logo1This year’s Super Bowl will be unique as it will be the first time the game is played outside in a cold-weather city at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. So how do you keep all those tailgaters happy when there’s chances for snow and a chill in the air? You break out biodiesel! This story from the New York Daily News says local refiner Tri-State Biodiesel is turning waste cooking oil into the green fuel to be used during the big game.

“It is very cool,” said Brent Baker, founder of Tri-State Biodiesel. “We’re very proud that we’re providing this full loop service.”

The 10-year-old company is still nailing down logistics, but Baker estimated that thousands of gallons of recycled cooking oil would be used.

Tri-State signed a deal in late 2013 with Delaware North, the hospitality and food service vendor operating at the MetLife Stadium to convert its dirty oil.

Trucks from Tri-State have been picking drums of oil up from MetLife Stadium since last year for recycling, Baker said.

Anne Marie McManus, Delaware North’s Director of Environmental Affairs and Sustainability, said the company has been converting its dirty oil since it began operations at MetLife. It partnered with Tri-State Biodiesel began recycling its oil into biodiesel to help it become certified “green.”

“Recently, as part of our efforts to become Green Restaurant Certified, we changed our waste kitchen oil recycling vendor to Tri-State Biodiesel,” McManus said, “specifically because the Green Restaurant Association requested that we use a vendor that reformulates the recycled waste kitchen oil into biodiesel only (as opposed to its potential use as animal feed).”

Tri-State Biodiesel’s founder Baker says there is one thing that disappoints him about this year’s game: no NY Jets!

Biodiesel

Senator Hopeful About RFS

Cindy Zimmerman

thune-thumb-2Sen. John Thune (R-SD) is hopeful the Environmental Protection Agency will make some changes in the proposed volume requirements for biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard this year.

“I just hope that the EPA will work with us, work with the industry, in a way that is realistic and grounded in the view that this is an industry that’s here to stay and we ought to be looking at ways we can continue to grow it,” said Thune during a press call with reporters this week.

Thune was one of several lawmakers who met with EPA officials last month about the proposal to lower volume obligations for renewable fuels in 2014. “I think we’ll get some relief from the meeting we had, perhaps, with regard to the direction they were heading for this year,” he said. “I’m hoping that they will make a decision that … moves us back to what we think is a more realistic volume level for this year.”

Listen to Thune’s remarks in this audio provided courtesy of Agri-Pulse. Sen. Thune RFS comments

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFS