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Project and Location News |
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Mississippi Power Seeking Approval for $2.2B Coal Gasification Plant
Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of the Southern Company, has applied for approval from the Mississippi Public Service Commission to build a 582 MW power plant that would employ IGCC technology with carbon capture and sequestration. The project, if implemented, would create 260 permanent jobs and an additional 1,000 construction jobs.
In other project news:
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Market Update |
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SWEPCO Executes Long-term Contract to Purchase Wind Power
The Southwest Electric Power Co. recently signed a contract with Majestic Wind Power LLC to purchase all of the power and tax benefits generated over the next 20 years by the 79.5 MW Majestic Wind Farm in Carson County, Texas.
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Technology Update |
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Cellulosic Ethanol Plant Begins Operations
Verenium, the second generation biofuels company, has started production at their plant in Jennings, Louisiana. The plant will produce 1.4 million gallons/year of ethanol from such feedstocks as wood chips, grass straw, and trash.
In other technology news:
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Incentives and Policy News |
Eleven States Agree to Develop Low Carbon Standard
States from Maryland north to New England have agreed to set a comprehensive, regional low-carbon-emissions standard for transportation and other fuels.
In other incentives and policy news:
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Workforce Trends |
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Fast Company Cites Ten Best Green Jobs
We've reported about the impending shortage in the nuclear power occupations, and the maintenance workers for wind turbines are already in big demand. But what else is out there? Read Fast Company's forecast here. |
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Conference News |
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Biomass Finance and Investment Summit
Coral Gables, Florida
January 26-28, 2009
The second annual summit organized by Infocast was a very well attended event, with almost 200 attendees and over 50 panelists and speakers. Mississippi Technology Alliance - Strategic Biomass Initiative was a supporting organization for this conference. A wide range of technologies and financing options were presented. The general sentiment among financiers present was the lack of free-flowing capital even in the clean-tech space. Some deals are getting done, but the investors are being very choosy and there is very little appetite to take any technology risk. The silver lining is the availability of specific credits in 2009 and 2010 timeframe, which make the "shovel ready" projects very attractive. Additionally, Production Tax Credits (PTC), which provide a credit of between one and two cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity production, are being considered by the U.S. Congress for extension up to 2013. In the past, Congress has only extended these credits on year-by-year basis creating a stop-and-go environment for many renewable energy projects. A pre-summit briefing focused on the various technologies available for conversion of biomass to energy. Sumesh Arora gave a presentation on the current of state of anaerobic digester technologies. The process of anaerobic digestion relies on naturally occurring bacteria to convert various organic wastes such as animal manure, food waste, renderings, or brewery waste into methane gas, which can then the burned directly for generating heat or in a generator to produce electricity. Over 100 dairy farms in the United States currently use this technology to offset their energy cost while generating renewable energy and reducing the emission of potent green house gases into the atmosphere. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's AgStar program estimates over 6,000 dairies could benefit from this technology. A company in Mississippi is pioneering the use of anaerobic digester technology on poultry farms. Another benefit of this process is the liquid fertilizer that is also produced as a secondary product. If methane gas and fertilizer outputs are monetized properly, such systems can yield positive cash flow in approximately five years based on a simple payback calculation. Sumesh serves as the Director of Strategic Biomass Initiative(SBI) at the Mississippi Technology Alliance. He is listed as a co-inventor on a patent pending technology to convert poultry litter into methane gas. For more information on anaerobic digesters or biomass business development and feasibility, please contact Sumesh at 601-960-3659 or sarora@mta.ms. |
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Company Profile: Verenium Corp. |
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Biofuels Company Defies Market with Stock up for 2009 YTD
Verenium Corp. (VRNM) has two key businesses: the development of a group of enzymes and processes to break down cellulose for industrial use, including the production of ethanol, and the biofuels production itself. The challenge of breaking down the cellulose has long been the barrier to commercially viable production of cellulosic ethanol which Verenium has now overcome, resulting in their recent facility announcement as already reported in this issue. The company headquarters is in Cambridge, MA, and has approximately 280 employees there and at other locations that include Jennings, Louisiana and San Diego. Market capitalization was $72.88 million and its stock was up slightly for 2009 at this writing. The company was formed in 2007 from the merger of publicly-held Diversa Corp. and privately-held Celunol, and key partners include BP, Cargill, BASF, Dupont, and DOE. Although the biofuels sector is under pressure from both lower oil prices and high feedstock costs, Verenium is outperforming their competitors.
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